《西风颂》是雪莱“三大颂”诗歌中的一首，写于1819年。这首诗是诗人“骄傲、轻捷而不驯的灵魂”的自白，是时代精神的写照。诗共分5节，每节的韵脚安排是：aba，bcb，cdc，ded，ee。这里，西风已经成了一种象征，它是一种无处不在的宇宙精神，一种打破旧世界，追求新世界的西风精神。诗人以西风自喻，表达了自己对生活的信念和向旧世界宣战的决心。

Ode to the West Wind
西风颂

I 第一节

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!
啊，狂野的西风，你把秋气猛吹，

不露脸便将落叶一扫而空，

犹如法师赶走了群鬼，

赶走那黄绿红黑紫的一群，

那些染上了瘟疫的魔怪——

呵，你让种子长翅腾空，

又落在冰冷的土壤里深埋，

象尸体躺在坟墓，但一朝

你那青色的东风妹妹回来，

为沉睡的大地吹响银号，

驱使羊群般蓓蕾把大气猛喝，

就吹出遍野嫩色，处处香飘。

狂野的精灵！你吹遍了大地山河，

破坏者，保护者，听吧——听我的歌！

II 第二节

Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion,

Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,

Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread

On the blue surface of thine aery surge,

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge

Of the horizon to the zenith's height,

The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

Of the dying year, to which this closing night

Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,

Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere

Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!
你激荡长空，乱云飞坠

如落叶；你摇撼天和海，

不许它们象老树缠在一堆；

你把雨和电赶了下来，

只见蓝空上你驰骋之

忽有万丈金发披开，

象是酒神的女祭司勃然大怒

愣把她的长发遮住了半个天，

将暴风雨的来临宣布。

你唱着挽歌送别残年

今夜这天空宛如圆形的大墓

罩住了混浊的云雾一片，

却挡不住电火和冰雹的突破，

更有黑雨倾盆而下！呵，听我的歌！

III 第三节

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams

The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,

Lull'd by the coil of his crystalline streams,

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,

And saw in sleep old palaces and tower

Quivering within the wave's intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers

So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou

For whose path the Atlantic's level powers

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below

The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear

The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,

And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!

你惊扰了地中海的夏日梦，

它在清澈的碧水里静躺，

听着波浪的催眠曲，睡意正浓

朦胧里它看见南国港外石岛旁

烈日下古老的宫殿和楼台

把影子投在海水里晃荡，

它们的墙上长满花朵和藓苔，

那香气光想想也叫人醉倒！

你的来临叫大西洋也惊骇

它忙把海水劈成两半，为你开道，

海地下有琼枝玉树安卧，

尽管深潜万丈，一听你的怒号

就闻声而变色，只见一个个

战栗，畏缩——呵，听我的歌！

IV 第四节

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even

I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,

As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed

Scarce seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!

I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd

One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

如果我能是一片落叶随你飘腾，

如果我能是一朵流云伴你飞行，

或是一个浪头在你的威力下翻滚，

如果我能有你的锐势和冲劲，

即使比不上你那不羁的奔放，

但只要能拾回我当年的童心，

我就能陪着你遨游天上，

那时候追上你未必是梦呓，

又何至沦落到这等颓丧，

祈求你来救我之急！

呵，卷走我吧，象卷落叶，波浪，流云！

我跌在人生的刺树上，我血流遍体！

岁月沉重如铁链，压着的灵魂

原本同你一样，高傲，飘逸，不驯。

V 第五节

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!

And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! Oh Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
让我做你的竖琴吧，就同森林一般，

纵然我们都落叶纷纷，又有何妨！

我们身上的秋色斑烂，

好给你那狂飚曲添上深沉的回响，

甜美而带苍凉。给我你迅猛的劲头！

豪迈的精灵，化成我吧，借你的锋芒，

把我的腐朽思想扫出宇宙，

扫走了枯叶好把新生来激发；

凭着我这诗韵做符咒，

犹如从未灭的炉头吹出火花，

把我的话散布在人群之中！

对那沉睡的大地，拿我的嘴当喇叭，

吹响一个预言！呵，西风，

如果冬天已到，难道春天还用久等？

写作背景

《西风颂》雪莱“三大颂”诗歌中的一首，写于1819年。[1]当时，欧洲各国的工人运动和革命运动风起云涌。英国工人阶级为了争取自身的生存权利，正同资产阶级展开英勇的斗争，捣毁机器和罢工事件接连不断。1819年8月，曼彻斯特八万工人举行了声势浩大的游行示威，反动当局竟出动军队野蛮镇压，制造了历史上著名的彼得卢大屠杀事件。雪莱满怀悲愤，写下了长诗《暴政的假面游行》，对资产阶级政府的血腥暴行提出严正抗议。法国自拿破仑帝制崩溃、波旁王朝复辟以后，阶级矛盾异常尖锐，广大人民正酝酿着反对封建复辟势力的革命斗争。拿破仑帝国的解体也大大促进了西班牙人民反对异族压迫和封建专制的革命运动，1819年1月，终于响起了武装起义的枪声。就在武装起义的前夕，海涅给西班牙人民献上了《颂歌》一首，为西班牙革命吹响了进军的号角。在意大利和希腊，民族解放运动方兴未艾，雪莱的《西风颂》发表不久，这两个国家也先后爆发了轰轰烈烈的武装起义。面对着欧洲山雨欲来风满楼的革命形势，雪莱为之鼓舞，为之振奋，诗人胸中沸腾着炽热的革命激情。这时，在一场暴风骤雨的自然景象的触发下，这种难以抑制的革命激情立刻冲出胸膛，一泻千里，化作激昂慷慨的歌唱。这时诗人正旅居意大利，处于创作的高峰期。这首诗可以说是诗人“骄傲、轻捷而不驯的灵魂”的自白，是时代精神的写照。诗人凭借自己的诗才，借助自然的精灵让自己的生命与鼓荡的西风相呼相应，用气势恢宏的篇章唱出了生命的旋律和心灵的狂舞。