Death and Rejuvenation
Throughout "Ode to the West Wind," the speaker paints the west wind as a force that simultaneously possesses the abilities of destruction and restoration. This is depicted in the poem through the language of death and birth. In the first sonnet, we see this in the changing of the seasons from fall to winter to spring. In the fall, the wind pulls the "leaves dead" from trees, a scene that looks to the speaker like fleeing ghosts and sick masses of people. Then, during the winter the seeds lie "each like a corpse within its grave," waiting until spring revives the natural world by blowing a trumpet over the Earth.
The theme of the west wind representing both death and life persists throughout the poem. It serves as a commentary on the nature of change, which lies at the core of the poem. The speaker seems to suggest that radical change cannot occur without losing something. And, as such, this loss should not be viewed as inherently negative, as it is an essential aspect of improving the world.
Freedom
The idea that freedom is essential in a life well lived runs through "Ode to the West Wind." This is seen especially in the fourth section of the poem, in which the speaker hails the wind as "O uncontrollable!" He goes on to say that aging has cost him the freedom he once enjoyed as a boy, and he wishes he could still be young and as free as the wind.
The wind's freedom from the typical burdens of modern life makes it a particularly attractive target for the speaker. He seems to suggest that we should all try to resemble the wind in this way, as the alternative is to "fall upon the thorns of life."
The Power of Poetry
Between the lines of the poem can be found the speaker's ardent desire for his poetry to have a revolutionary effect similar to that of the wind in the natural world. He wishes to become "thy lyre" and have the wind speak through him, suggesting that he wants his words to act as a vehicle for radical change. He also asks the wind, "by the incantation of this verse"—through this very poem—to spread his words through humanity. And he hopes these words signal "The trumpet of a prophecy," an indication of what is to come.
Contained within this plea is an argument about the radical potential of poetry. The speaker suggests that poetry can contain all the power of the natural world, and, as a result, all of its ability to change the Earth itself.
