"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" Shelley calls on the wild autumn wind that scatters leaves, clouds and waves, and begs it to carry his words across the world. This free worksheet has the full poem with numbered lines, vocabulary, five discussion questions, a writing prompt and an answer key. No signup needed.
Grades 10–12 · Common Core RL.11-12.4, RL.11-12.2, RL.11-12.5 · US Letter PDF, with an answer key on the last page
What’s on the worksheet
Shelley wrote the ode in October 1819 in a wood near Florence, Italy, on a day when a stormy wind was gathering, and published it in 1820. It has five numbered sections. Each is made of four tercets in terza rima (aba bcb cdc ded) and a closing couplet. Sections 1–3 show the wind's power over leaves, clouds and sea; sections 4–5 turn to the poet himself. (Section numbers 1–5 on the sheet are headings, not poem lines.)
Vocabulary
- hectic: feverish (a flushed, sick red)
- pestilence-stricken: struck by a deadly disease
- clarion: a trumpet with a clear, loud sound
- Maenad: a wild female follower of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
- dirge: a song of mourning
- sepulchre: a tomb
- azure: bright blue
- lyre: a small stringed instrument, a symbol of poetry
- impetuous: acting with sudden, forceful energy
- incantation: words spoken as a magic spell
Discussion questions
- In section 1, the wind is called "Destroyer and preserver." What does it destroy, and what does it preserve?
- What does the wind do to the clouds in section 2 and to the sea in section 3?
- In section 4, the speaker wishes he were a leaf, a cloud or a wave. Why? What has happened to him since boyhood?
- What does he ask the wind to do with his "dead thoughts" in section 5?
- Explain the last line. Why is it a fitting ending for a poem about autumn?
Writing prompt
Choose a force of nature (rain, snow, thunder, the tide). Write a poem of 10–14 lines that speaks directly to it and asks it to change something in your life.
The answer key is included in the PDF, on its own page for teachers.