Ode to the west Wind

The mural is called 'Ode to the west Wind'; this refers to the poem written by Percey Bysshe Shelley in 1819. Shelley lived for a while in Soho, around the corner from the mural in no. 15 Poland Street. The mural was painted by London Wall Mural group in 1989 led by artist Louise Vines. The piece is to be seen as 'reflective and optimistic. 

In the picture, a person sits with a book, perhaps thinking about the poem. They wear colours referenced in the ode; "yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red". 

The broken tree illustrates "O wild west wind, thou breath of Autumn's being.... 

Destroyer and preserver; hear oh hear" and also alludes to the Great Storm of 1987, a hurricane which crossed the South of England with winds up to 120 mph, it killed 18 people and downed an estimated 15 million trees.