In the first line, Shelley use the phrase "winged seeds" which presents images of flying and freedom. The only problem is that they lay "cold and low" or unnourished or not elevated. He likens this with a feeling of being trapped. The important word is "seeds" for it shows that even in death, new life will grow out of the "grave." The phrase "winged seeds" also brings images of religions, angels, and/or souls that continue to create new life. .
The arrangement and structure of the stanzas also serve purpose to emphasize Shelley's theme (Shelley, Complete Poems 233). The stanzas are made up of interlinking three-line units with the rhyme scheme ababcbcdc, continuing this to the end of the stanza:.
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, (a).
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead (b).
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, (a).
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, (b).
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, (c).
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed (b).
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, (c).
Each like a corpse within its grave, until (d).
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow (c).
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (d).
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) (e).
With living hues and odours plain and hill (d).
Wild spirits, which art moving everywhere; (e).
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear! (modified e) .
In this, Shelley grasps a vision and exaggerates it to the point that "it should awaken thoughts about the future:.
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth.
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!.
Be through my lips to unawakened earth.
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,.
If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?- .
The first two stanzas carry the type of movement, much like that of the wind, through their rhyme schemes. The third stanza discusses the slowing down of the movement, while the next resumes with the wind movement apparent in the first stanza.
