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English Literature / Unit 13   ENL 1209 short lesson, about 20 seconds

"Ode to the West Wind"

Captions available

The idea

"Ode to the West Wind," of eighteen nineteen, is in five sections of terza rima, each ending in a couplet. The wind is "Destroyer and preserver"; the speaker pleads, "Be thou me, impetuous one," to scatter his words, and ends, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

In practice

The wind destroys and renews.

Where people slip

The speaker wants to be the wind's instrument.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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