Angels of rain and lightning

          “Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread

On the blue surface of thine aëry surge,

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad” (Shelley 18-21)

 

Shelley states that the angels are “On the blue surface of thine aëry surge” (19), only on the top level of this ethereal wave of power and brute strength that the wind is as it blows across the world. Shelley is comparing the angels to that of hair on an even greater being, which he considers to be the west wind. By having the angels be only the hair, it is known that the wind is significantly stronger and more powerful than the angels, who are thought to be immortal and be extremely, if not some of the most powerful beings. They are seen as insignificant when compared to the spirit that is the wind. Shelley states that this hair belongs to "some fierce Maenad" (21), who were the vicious and ecstatic female followers of Dionysus. Who was a powerful and well-worshiped Greek God, and a son of the King of the Gods, Zeus. By having the wind be compared to that of a God with angels for hair, making the spirit of the wind extremely powerful. Since the Maenads were also known for being raving and "fierce", this describes that of the wind with its destructive nature and fierce powers. 

-Megan Williams

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