Abstract:My graduating paper aims at using the theory of imagination in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Defence of Poetry” to analyze the imagination in Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind.” Work will be written from three aspects: Romantic Imagination in “Ode to the West Wind”, Shelley’s imagination in “Ode to the West Wind” and the relationship between imagination and language in “Ode to the West Wind”. 

From a historic view, the imagination in “Ode to the West Wind” mirrors some characteristic features of the whole romantic period：worship of nature，subjectivism and spontaneity. From the detail, the imagination in “Ode to the West Wind” tells us how imagination help the poet to create his poem and what is the relationship between imagination and language. The imagination of poet is different from that of our ordinary people. Shelley refers to the West Wind as stunner in the universe, but why can’t we ordinary people use such incredible mastery of imagination. My paper answers the question in three aspects: observation, inspiration and contemplation and analyze the basic function of imagination in poet’ writing process. Imagination is abstract, while language is concrete, so in order to make the reader understand what poem says, imagined things need to be expressed by language. On the other hand, imagination makes words colorful and plentiful and poet’s abstruse and philosophic imagination changes his language a lot.

Key Words: Percy Bysshe Shelley，“Ode to the West Wind”，Imagination

中文摘要:本文旨在用雪莱《诗辩》（“Defence of Poetry”）中的理论，来分析《西风颂》（Ode to the West Wind）的想象。文章共包含三个方面内容：《西风颂》中的想象所蕴含的浪漫主义诗歌的特点；《西风颂》中诗人的想象；《西风颂》中想象与语言的关系。

从宏观的和历史的角度看，《西风颂》中的想象反映出了浪漫主义诗歌的几个突出特点：崇拜自然，主观主义和自发性。从细节的角度上看，《西风颂》中的想象又告诉了我们，想象是如何帮助诗人创作的，以及想象与语言的关系。诗人的想象是异于我们常人的，为何雪莱能将西风想象成宇宙间的尤物，而我们常人却不能。为了回答这个问题，论文将细从观察、感悟、沉思等方面，分析出诗人的想象在诗歌创作过程中的重要作用。想象是抽象的，而语言是具体的，抽象的东西需要通过语言表达出来，从而让周围的人理解。另一方面，想象又让语言变得丰富多彩，诗人那深邃而富有哲理的想象往往使他的语言变幻万千。 

关键词：雪莱；《西风颂》；想象