English Essay

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Critical Analysis of a Poem
Keats’ Night-at-arms is a very different character than the one portrayed in Shelley’s poem Night, Therefore, if Keats’ Knight-at-arms were the main character of “Ode to the West Wind,” he would act and think in a manner that is different from the behavior of the main character in the poem. There will be no hope and appreciation of nature by the Knight if he could have composed this poem. A conspicuous contradiction can be noted in the manner the poem is conceptualized and portrayed. The main character in “Ode to the West Wind” is the narrator/speaker that is clearly mesmerized by the wind. It has the power to plant seeds in the land and to clear the autumn’s leaves. In “Ode to the West Wind,” the speaker/narrator is amazed by what the wind can do. However, if it could have been the Knight-at-arms, he could only linger around because he lacks the proper understanding to make sense of its dynamics.
Thesis Statement: If Keats’ Knight-at-arms were the main character in “Ode to the West Wind,” he would have acted differently because of his strange behavior, his rebelliousness, and his state of desperation.
The knight could have acted differently in the poem because in essence his character can be summarized as weird and ignorant. He seems to be in disarray both psychologically and physically. Moreover, the Knight-at-arms feels that the end is drawing nearer due to the feeling of desolation and hopelessness. For this reason, he would ask the wind to provide more fear and strength to turn out to be uncontainable.

However, behind its mind is dread that his words and actions will not be addressed by nature and the mankind because it is only carried by the wind. Deep inside its thoughts, the Knight thinks that the wind is more powerful than mankind. It thinks that it sometimes brings disasters. The wind could also lead to a conflict that is unidentifiable since it is a natural phenomenon in the same manner as the woman who tricks the knight. The knight begins to look all starry-eyed at the lady and believes that she feels the same way as when she talked in a strange language (Keats and Suide 1). He is certain that she says that she cherishes him. The pain of love is experienced by the Knight.
The knight could have acted differently in the poem because unlike the main character in the poem, he does not possess the patience and tolerance that are critical in perceiving things rationally. Keats’s Knight-at-arms is quite rebellious he always felt a strong urge to desist from doing things that may seem normal in the conception of other people. The source of his rebelliousness was more on emotions rather than rules. Additionally, the Knight would not speak much about the feeling of desolation that left him depressed and sick. For this reason, the other character involved has to repeat what he tries to convey or ask. The setting also gives fairylike images. The wind would not be conceptualized as the normal movement of the air, but something magical and something included in a dream (Kunhikrishnan 214). There would be a dream about fairy cave and a hell cave, instead of conceptualizing the coming of autumn.
The knight could also have acted differently because he maintains a desperate personality. As the poem progresses, the Knight would act and think that he’s begging for help because he always seems desperate and unattended to both physically and psychologically. If Keats were to have written “Ode to the West Wind,” then he could request with pride. It is similar to a prayer. He knows that it would have an unlikely effect. In spite of this, he would pray still. The Knight would make it sound as good as possible. In spite of a good attempt, the winds would not appeal to the wind to pervade the power and spirit to spread the ideas. He would not ask the wind to affect him. The knight remains sad. He would not ask the wind to play him like an instrument. He would not ask the wind to spread ideas to inspire the others. For the knight, the sad music would not turn out to be a prophecy. The autumn’s West Wind brings cold, and it is the period of the coming winter (Shelley 15). It brings with it the cold that makes people shiver become weary of the various things in life that make them sad and lonely.
It is evident that if Keats’ Knight-at-arms were the main character in “Ode to the West Wind,” he would have acted differently because of his strange behavior, his rebelliousness, and his state of desperation. Keats’s Knight-at-arms would have acted and thought differently from the manner in which the composer of this poem acts because he had different experiences from those of the main character in “Ode to the West Wind.” Moreover, an ode incorporates excitement, joy, hope, and pleasure: “Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! / the tumult of thy mighty harmonies/.” (Shelley 57). This excerpt precisely highlights the differences that exist between the composer of this poem and the knight. The ode presents an inspiration for nature using the wind (Kunhikrishnan 214). Instead of having a magical view and a melancholy ambiance like in Keats’s Knight-at-arm, an ode praises the wind. The speaker in the ode believes that the wind has its own immortality and mortality.
Works Cited
Kunhikrishnan, K. “Ode to the West Wind.” (2003): 214-217.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, and John Gielgud. Ode to The West Wind. Columbia, 1987.