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The tone of “Ode to the West Wind” is self-assured. Convinced by the righteousness of their cause, the speaker certainly addresses the west wind in a confident way. To be sure, a poem’s tone less about how the speaker speaks and more about the poet’s attitude. In the case of “Ode to the West Wind,” however, Shelley’s attitude is evidently in line with that of his anonymous speaker. For example, consider the highly structured nature of the poem as a whole, which conveys an intrinsic sense of certainty and self-assurance. Formally, the work is broken into five cantos of equal length, each of which shares the same interlocking rhyme scheme. Thematically, each canto has its own individual focus, but they work together in a sophisticated way, building up to the speaker’s final request for the wind to help spread their revolutionary message. In addition to the poem’s structure, consider its meter. Although the sometimes-erratic rhythm of the language could be seen as a sign of insecurity, from another vantage it could be read as a sign of ingenuity. If the speaker wishes to flatter the wind, what better way than to creatively mimic its blustery nature in the poem’s meter?

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