Percy Bysshe Shelley compose the poem "Ode to the West Wind" in 1819 near Florence, Italy; it was published in 1820. Some have interpreted the poem as an expression of the speaker lamenting his current geolocation inasmuch as he felt helpless to do much about the events happening in England while he was in Italy; at the same time, the poem expresses the hope that its words will inspire and influence those who read or hear it. More than anything else, Shelley wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure. Some also believe that the loss of his son, Charles, and the ensuing pain, influenced Shelley. The poem allegorizes the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution; at the time of composing this poem, Shelley without doubt had the Peterloo Massacre of August 1819 in mind. See too his other poems written at the same time—"The Mask of Anarchy," "Prometheus Unbound," and "England in 1819"—as taking up these same problems of political change, revolution, and role of the poet.