"the thorns of life! I bleed!..."See in text(Ode to the West Wind)
According to multiple gospels in the Bible, Jesus wore a crown of thorns shortly before his crucifixion. The thorns were meant to hurt him and mock his alleged authority. In this sense, the crown of thorns symbolism suggests many things: first, the mockery that Shelley believed the English monarchy had become under George III; and second, the basic nature of pain and suffering in life that began with Jesus’ pain. The mention of blood, too, invokes the blood of Christ along with his salvation, and the salvation of his followers by drinking the representation of his blood during communion. Interestingly, the religious allusions also play into the way Shelley addresses the West Wind (particularly in this section of the poem) with deep humility and prayer, as though the Wind is a god.
Baiae was a city in ancient Rome located north of the Gulf of Naples. It was known for its luxurious baths and as a place where the rich, famous, and artistic would go to relax and enjoy parties and other more scandalous activities. Baiae had a reputation for being a place of sin, which was further reinforced by the volcanic activity along the coastline. Today, parts of the ancient city have been preserved as monuments, but other parts are completely submerged underwater, which may be what Shelley refers to by the “old palaces and towers” in the following line.
In Greco-Roman mythology, Maenads are women who grow frenzied drinking wine and worshipping Dionysus (Bacchus), the god of wine known for having a dual nature: kind and freeing as well as cruel and wild. Maenads too have this duality, as they live free in the natural world and worship it, but also devour living animals alive and relish in the bloodlust.
"The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow..."See in text(Ode to the West Wind)
This reference to seeds waiting for spring to awaken alludes to the idea of a rebellion lying in wait to rise up. The term “spring” has been used throughout history to refer to various uprisings and political movements, such as the Spring of Nations in Europe in 1848 or the Arab Spring in 2010.
"Pestilence-stricken multitudes..."See in text(Ode to the West Wind)
Though describing leaves, this line contains a poetic device called a metaphor to compare dying autumn leaves with people stricken by pestilence. When Shelley penned “Ode to the West Wind” in 1819, many people in England were actually starving and sickening. England was in the middle of a political upheaval as the aging King George III lost favor and the people demanded parliamentary reform. The country faced unemployment and famine after the Napoleonic Wars of years prior. In August 1819 in Manchester, the Peterloo Massacre took place, where soldiers attacked citizens who were demonstrating. Shelley was forthright in his liberal political beliefs, which are detailed in another poem he wrote during this time period called England in 1819.
In Greek mythology, Zephyr (sometimes called Zephyrus) was the god of the West Wind, the gentlest of the four winds. He was known as the messenger of spring.
