These mythological beings were the servants of Dionysus and were quite "fierce", as Shelley states. By comparing clouds to these beings, he incorporates an aspect of ungovernability. Through canto II, the reader can also grasp a sense of impending doom, created by phrases such as “locks of the approaching storm” and “black rain, fire and hail will burst.” This is perhaps the moment when the reader becomes enlightened as to how Shelley feels about both his current position and that of Britain. It is possible that this feeling of a coming storm is a reflection of the anguish Shelley feels over the plight of her home country during this time period. The ode was written shortly after the Peterloo massacre, an event in which 18 innocent civilians were killed while listening to anti-poverty and pro-democracy demonstrations