Ode to the West Wind
西风颂
Ode to the West Wind is an ode written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819 near Florence, Italy. Some have interpreted the poem as the speaker lamenting his inability to directly help those in England owing to his being in Italy. Perhaps more than anything else, Shelley wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure. The poem allegorizes the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution. At the time of composing this poem, Shelley without doubt had the Peterloo Massacre of August 1819 in mind.
《西风颂》是1819年珀西·比希·雪莱创作于意大利佛罗伦萨附近的一首颂歌。有人将该诗解读为诗人身在意大利而无力救助那些在英国的人们而感的悲叹之作。雪莱最想以诗达意，传递改革和革命的信息。诗人化身为预言家，风便成为传递变革信号的比喻。诗中，诗人是改变和革命的倡导者和发声人。毫无疑问的一点是，诗人创作此诗时，脑海里不无1819年8月彼得卢大屠杀的画面。
The poem Ode to the West Wind consists of five cantos and is written in iambic pentameter. The poem begins with three cantos describing the wind's effects upon earth, air, and ocean. The last two cantos are Shelley speaking directly to the wind, asking for its power, to lift him like a leaf, a cloud or a wave and make him its companion in its wanderings. He asks the wind to take his thoughts and spread them all over the world so that the youth are awoken with his ideas. The poem ends with an optimistic note, which is that if winter days are here then spring is not very far. The west wind has symbolized a universal force, a cosmic spirit striving to destroy the old and corrupted world and build up a new one. The poet himself has transformed into west wind, declaring war on the old world order and spreading hope and faith across the land.
《西风颂》由五章组成，全诗以抑扬格五音步为律。诗人用前三章诗描绘西风对大地、空气和海洋的影响。最后两章中，雪莱直接和西风对话，请求西风赐予力量，愿化身一片落叶、一朵浮云、一阵海浪御风驰往。诗人请求西风将他的思想带往远方，播撒到全世界，用这些思想唤醒远方的年轻一代。诗末，诗人以乐观向上的语气希冀着，假如冬天已经来了，春天还会远吗？西风已经成了诗人眼里的象征，它是一种无处不在的宇宙精神，一种打破旧世界、创建新世界的西风精神。诗人以西风自喻，向旧世界宣战，向大地播撒希望和信念。
