Ode to the West Wind

The fireplace needs trees to burn, and the author mentioned he would be the tree. So, it expresses that even if he burns himself until he becomes ashes, he still wants to use his light and heat to bring warmth and strength to the world and to mankind. And his verses are as powerful as the west wind. -Leslie Zhu

The west wind has the spirit that can blow down the leaves. And the dead leaves can also refer the old, backward ideas and society. Old leaves can be given new life. Like the west wind, the author hopes to bring new ideas, spirit and power to society. -Leslie Zhu

Here the author compares himself to the lyre and the forest. And the west wind as a being that can pluck the strings and blow down the leaves. It shows the powerful force of the west wind. The fading leaves also have the author's meaning of human aging. The melody created by the west wind blowing through is harmonious, reflecting the author's appreciation of the west wind. -Leslie Zhu

  Here, the author wonders if the west wind is getting stronger or if he has gotten weaker. He is confused whether the feeling of freedom increases or that he is getting mentally weaker. He reminisces about his childhood when he has endless possibilities and is completely free. He felt he could feel more free than the west wind. He claims his boyhood seemed so long ago and that he remembers it vaguely. The author is plainly juxtaposing the power of the wind with his own fragility as he has aged. He imagines if he could take back his childhood freedom, he would not be praying to the west wind in his low points of life. All he ever desired was to be free of all the pain he had to endure while living in reality. -Faye Alice

Here, the author brings his attention to himself. His imagination measures the long awaited autonomy he has been waiting for. He desires to be swept by the wind to conquer freedom. He uses metaphors such as dead leaf, swift cloud, and wave to describe the calm movement made by the wind. He thinks about what it would be like to be those things at the mercy of the power of the wind. He admires the strength of the strong wind. The quote means that the wind acts on its impulse and its strength is uncontrollable. H e wants to experience total freedom drifting away from the real world. -Faye Alice

 Section III As the Atlantic ocean turns its smooth surface into chasms or clefts left by the wind - or as if the ocean is trying to move away from the west winds path that it indents inward like a chasm -  far below, the sea flowers and see weed, in their own colorful little world,  hear the voice of the west wind and suddenly grow with fear and lose their color. They are starting to lose their life. T hey start filling with fear and end up dying off just like the fall kills the leaves on the tress. When fall comes, the leaves of trees turn brown, red, gray, and lose their bright green color. They lose their life essence and fall off the trees.  - Tito Rosas