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Humoral theory as an organizing principle in Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind"?(Essays)(Percy Bysshe Shelley)(Critical essay)

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From: ANQ
Date: 20070322
Author:McInnis, David

Criticism of Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" has addressed the personification of the dead leaves as the "[p]estilence-stricken multitudes" (line 5) and identified the specific reference to tuberculosis that exists in the almost metonymic use of hectic (an archaic medical term applied to tuberculosis) as it describes the color red. "Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red" (4) are only superficially autumnal colors, after all; black and pale are arguably not colors that are commonly applied to autumn leaves. The peculiarity of this combination of colors is often explained as ...

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