Discuss Shelley's revolutionary idealism,particularly his prophesy of a better future.

P.B Shelley as a Revolutionary Poet
The French Revolution as one of the most influential event in the late 18th century. Though P.B Shelley did see the French revolution but he was influenced because he was deeply influenced by William Godwin and Rousseau. He was rebellious in nature. Though he lived a short span of life but his short life was full of storms. He was expelled from Cambridge by publishing an article “Necessity of atheism”. He was then also expelled from his house. He was a free thinker and struggled for the freedom, rights of people and free thinking. He was an individualist and idealist who rejected the institutions of family, church, marriage and the Christian faith and rebelled against all forms of tyranny. His passionate struggle for personal love and social justice is shown in his poems.Percy Bysshe Shelley was the most revolutionary and non-conformist of the Romantic poets. In his Ode to West Wind, he personifies the west wind for a super-natural being that have the immense power.
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

In the above stanza, he is saying that thousands of leaves have been plucked and dried up and have been charioted to the winter bed like a corpse in the grave and then he says that the wind of spring shall blow in order to give a new life to these dried winged seeds. He conveys the idea that the old and rusted ideas will be converted into new and productive Ideas by revolution. The relation between the dead leaves and winged seed show the complexity of revolution. Like dead leaves make the soil fertile and help the winged seeds to grow. Same the social injustice will force the people to spread new ideas. . Therefore, the society will undergo such a revolution where the social injustice will be abolished when the ideas of social justice flourishes.

Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

He wants the Wild West Wind to make him a wave, a leaf, or a cloud, because he is highly disappointed by the miseries of life. Like his own family expelled him out of the home, He was even expelled out from the university on behalf of his free thinking and rebellious nature.
He wanted to flourish his ideas across the world, and appeals to the strong west wind to spread his ideas and thoughts. In fact he personifies the west wind with such a power that no one could oppose him. The seeds and herbs spread across various habitats with the help of the wind. Similarly he also wished to spread his own ideas across the world

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

He wished to flourish his ideas across the world, Like rusted leaves have been charioted by wind and gave birth to a new a life. This expresses the revolutionary thoughts of the Shelley. He expresses his thought of freedom and want the west wind to spread his ideas and flourish his thoughts among the mankind like ashes and sparks because he wants to awake the sleepy people.

The theme of regeneration enters into a new phase in the last stanza, which attains a universal dimension. Shelley wants to regenerate or to reform the whole humanity of the world. In this task of reformation he invokes the revolutionary spirit of the West Wind.

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

In the last two lines, he give a hope to the people who are struggling for the rights of people, liberty and revolution that spring comes after winter. It indicates that if you are facing difficulties while advocating your opinion, then the time will come after this that people will not only respect your opinions but will happily adopt.
To conclude, Shelley stands as a dreamer of a millennium. He believes in the reformation of human society and he finds the west wind as a spirit to enliven his broken mind.
Through the ‘Ode to the West Wind’, Shelley just upholds a prophecy of a new world. In fact, the West Wind serves for Shelley as a fit symbol of change, a power that can destroy as well as preserve and create again. It destroys the old, and the useless, and preserves the new and the growing.

“Wild Spirit which art moving everywhere,
Destroyer and Preserver, hear,ohear!”