Percy Bysshe Shelley “Ode to the West Wind”
Describe the structure of this poem. How does the "terza rima" verse form suit this poem's subject and aims?
Characterize the West Wind in this poem - what are its powers, what effects does it have on nature (or the other elements in nature) and the poet? In what way does it embody both danger and hope?
What is the traditional purpose of an ode? What does it seem to be to romantics such as Shelley?
What assistance does the poet seek from the West Wind?
When the speaker prays to the West Wind to "scatter my ashes like dead leaves across the universe," what is he implying about the nature of poetic language?
"Ozymandias"
What is the effect of narrating a tale told by a traveller from a distant land? Would the incident have had the same effect if he had had the experience himself directly, or if it had occured at a local site?
How are the octave and sestet divisions of the sonnet used to develop his point? The use of the final lines?
What significance is given to the artist in this narration? What had been his relationship to the proud monarch?
What ironies does the poem convey? What is the poem's point or moral?
Is "Oxymandias" a depressing or a victorious poem?
“The Cloud”
What relationship does the Cloud itself bear to the west wind of "The Ode to the West Wind"?
Why is the Cloud described four times as "laughing"? Does it reveal other human traits--or is it anthropomorphic to see laughter or enjoyment as only human traits? What is the Cloud's relation to other aspects of nature?
How do the poem's language and rhythms express its themes?
“Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”
How does one experience intellectual beauty? To what things does Shelley compare it in stanza 1? What do these comparisons tell the reader about its nature?
Stanza 2 is built primarily of questions. What subject do these questions concern?
What do the names of “God” and “Heaven” mean, according to Shelley?
The poem is strongly influenced by “Tintern Abbey”, among others. What are the similarities and differences between the two poems? The differences are especially visible in the third stanza.
What would happen if intellectual beauty was a stable part of human lives, not evanescent?
Why is intellectual beauty “to human though.... nourishment/Like darnekss to a dying flame”?
What kind of experience is described in stanza 5? Judging from the description, can anybody consciously achieve the experience of intellectual beauty through one's own efforts?
What kind of images open the last stanza? What is the relationship between the mood they convey and the experience of creating poetry?
So, in the end, how would you define intellectual beauty?