A Comparison of Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp" and Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind"
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published 18/08/2007
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Summary
"The Eolian Harp" and "Ode to the West Wind," both poems by two of the most celebrated poets of their time, each fall under the category of the "greater romantic lyric," as termed by M. H. Abrams (77). Both are written in the first person and are about the same length; Shelley's is six lines longer with a line count of seventy. Yet, the most striking similarity between these two poems is that they both focus on the same major concepts: the wind as inspiration, or what Abrams calls the "correspondent breeze" in his book by the same name, the universal soul, and the wind harp. The poems remain distinct, though, because each poet has different ideas regarding these basic notions. For instance, Coleridge sees the wind as gentle and beautiful, while Shelley sees it as powerful and violent. Shelley focuses on the destructive and creative powers of the correspondent breeze as well as its connective powers, while Coleridge focuses only on the connective aspects. Most importantly, Coleridge abandons the whole idea of the correspondent breeze because it conflicts with his religious beliefs, while Shelley continues to embrace it wholeheartedly.
Table of Contents
- Coleridge abandons the whole idea of the correspondent breeze because it conflicts with his religious beliefs
- Some of the imagery used in The Eolian Harp and Ode to the West Wind is also similar
- Moreover, both poems include wind as a key image
- Closely related to the image of the wind-harp is the concept of a universal spirit or oversoul
- These aspects, along with tone, are the most obvious differences in technical features
- The main discrepancy in these poems is in how each poet develops the underlying concept of the correspondent breeze
- . The most significant difference, though, is that Coleridge abandons the theory of the correspondent breeze and the universal soul because of religious conflict, while Shelley continues to embrace it
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