He was born the eldest of seven children, on August 4, 1792 to Elizabeth Pillford and Sir Timothy Shelley near Sussux. Mr. Shelley was a member of parliament, and it was assumed that young Shelley would follow in his father’s footsteps. Shelley was educated in Latin from the young age of six. “As a child, he had been very happy, playful, mischievous, gentle, and affectionate” (Bernbaum 241). At ten, he was sent to a boarding school outside London called Sion House Academy. This is when his revolting temper started. He entered Eton in 1804 and then transferred to University College Oxford in 1810. Shelley’s sister, Marion Hellen attended a school for girls at Clapham near London. On a visit with his sister, he met the acquaintance of one of her school friends, 16-year old Harriet Westbrook. There was no doubt that he was not in love with Harriet, despite this, one evening in late summer the two eloped to Edinburgh where they married in August of 1811 (

Bernbaum 243). When Shelley's father found out about the elopement, he refused to help support his son. His first child was born soon after his marriage. Shelley and his wife became unhappy because of the expectations of providing a suitable home, and the carriage for his family. He quickly became buried in debt. Shelley was only nineteen years old. Shelley threw himself into his work, leaving little time for Harriet. In 1812 Shelley met fifteen-year-old Mary Godwin. The two eloped to France in July of 1814. Throughout his life, Shelley pursued his passion of writing poetry, much of which reflects the tormented life he

The final effect of the poem is a mixture of depression and hope. It ends with a question mark. Shelley states: “If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?” This questions if the life cycle will continue. There is hope that it will. It is inevitable that after winter dies off, spring brings new life.

Shelley strives to express by image an absolute truth or beauty beyond the scope of imagery. “Of all the great Romantics, Shelley was the least interested in the world as it actually was or as it has been in historic past. Even when he wrote of the present or the past, it was chiefly to disclose what forces had hindered the coming of a better day and forces would hasten its arrival” (Bernbaum 258).

In “Ode to the West Wind,” Percy Shelley describes the turmoil of his life and death using three distinct elements from nature- earth, sky, and water. Life brings death. Death gives way to life. It is the life cycle of regeneration. Without one, we cannot have the other.

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