The prelude

• 'One summer evening (led by her) I found'

  Personification: Nature is personified as a female who takes the speaker by the hand and escorts him to the boat. It is like nature is quite seductive and, under her spell, the speaker will do whatever she wills.
• 'A little boat tied to a willow tree Within a rocky cove, its usual home. Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in Pushed from the shore.'

  • The boat is also personified as a female and instead, the speaker has control over “her”.
  • He is disturbing the peace of the boat; there is an air of mischievousness and slyness here; the speaker knows he shouldn’t be disrupting, but he does anyway.
  • The verbs, conveying his motions, are quite powerful and portray his dominance.
• 'It was an act of stealth And troubled pleasure,'

  • Oxymoron: The speaker is well-aware of the immorality of his actions (”troubled”), therefore he moves cautiously and surreptitiously, however it is nonetheless thrilling and exhilarating to him.
  • He is established as a villainous character, because of his immoral passion.
• 'nor without the voice Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on;'

  • Personification: The speaker feels as though the mountains are spurring him on; encouraging him to row further.
  • In retrospective, this could be seen as him wanting to lessen his accountability (placing blame on nature instead of taking responsibility).
• 'Leaving behind her still, on either side, Small circles glittering idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track Of sparkling light.'

  • Nature Imagery: An idyllic setting is created through the adverbs and adjectives.
  • It sets up a paradisiacal, celestial scene, but the speaker seems to forget he’s disturbed the tranquility and peace.
  • He is so utterly consumed by the beauty that he neglects the villainous role he has just begun to play.
  • Lack of self-awareness.
• 'But now, like one who rows, Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point With an unswerving line, I fixed my view Upon the summit of a craggy ridge,'

  Simile: The speaker talks about himself as a professional with determination; again, overpowering nature.
• 'The horizon's utmost boundary; far above

  Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.'
• 'She was an elfin pinnace;'

  Personification: The boat is personified as a small and delicate female; the speaker finds the boat to have a mischievous charm and in his mind, there is some sexual chemistry between them.
• 'lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake,'

  • Sexual Imagery: The combination of the adverb and the verb suggests that the speaker has complete control over nature who in turn, is mute and thus helpless.
  • As the speaker exerts his power and sexual desire, the lake is the voiceless victim.
• 'And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat Went heaving through the water like a swan;'

  • Noun & Verb: The actions connote a dominance and a power.
  • There is more sexual imagery in terms of the motions: a caressing, a backwards and forward, a thrusting.
  • The simile implies an effortless and graceful gliding of the boat, but again, the speaker is unaware that this act is in fact non-consensual and therefore exploitative.
• 'When, from behind that craggy steep till then The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge,'

  • Volta: This signifies the turning point of the poem. Thus far, the speaker has had total control and power over nature, however now, it seems as though the mountain has come to the defense of the lake and seeks to avenge the exploitation.
  • The adjectives only seek to strengthen the physical power and intimation of the mountain; the colour has disturbed the idyllic scene.
• 'As if with voluntary power instinct, Upreared its head.'

  • Juxtaposition: It is ironic that now, the speaker is using powerful words to describe the mountain and not himself.
  • He recognises that the mountain chooses (irony) to assert its dominance but also acknowledges that it is innate behaviour (protector/avenger).
  • The verb emphasises this as it seems as though the mountain raises itself to not only make its presence felt, but to tower over the speaker.
• 'I struck and struck again,'

  
  

  • Juxtaposition: Whereas the speaker was previously “lustily dipping his oars”, they are now striking out in panic and terror in order to ride away from his punisher.
  • Before he was rowing with skill, there is now nothing graceful or elegant about his motion and it is quite shameful.
  • From the speaker’s perspective, he is terrified; from the reader’s perspective, humilation is affiliated with his striking.
• 'I struck and struck again,'

  • Irony: The speaker does not realise that, the more he rows on, the bigger the shadow of the mountain on the lake will get.
  • In his state of panic and because of the sheer size of the shadow, he has lost his common sense and becomes ignorant.
• 'And growing still in stature the grim shape Towered up between me and the stars,'

  • Juxstaposition: Whereas the stars signified a freedom and open space to the speaker before, the mountain now comes between them to disrupt what the speaker thought was an idyllic scene.
  • Verb: implies a massiveness and intimidation.
  • Ironic how now, the mountain is getting in between the speaker and nature.
  • This could be part of the mountain’s protection plan, where although it couldn’t save the lake, it will preserve the honour and integrity of others.
• 'and still, For so it seemed, with purpose of its own'

  • Personification: It is like the speaker’s actions have come back to haunt him with a vengeance, quite literally.
  • He was acting with power and purpose when he dipped his oars, yet he seems utterly taken back and overwhelmed by the mountain doing the same thing.
  • He totally underestimated the power of nature.
• 'And measured motion like a living thing, Strode after me.'

  • Simile: it would seem that the speaker took for granted that the mountain was a part of nature and therefore “alive”.
  • He feels blindsided by the sudden assertion of dominance an feels attacked.
  • Verb: suggests an aggressive intention from the mountain; it is stalking its prey (the speaker), seeking retribution.
• 'With trembling oars I turned,'

  Contrast: Whereas the oars were “lustily dipping”, now the power has turned and the speaker is terrified by the mountain’s wrath.
• 'And through the silent water stole my way'


  Adjective: The water is still mute, but now the speaker is running away from it instead of taking advantage.
• 'Back to the covert of the willow tree; There in her mooring-place I left my bark, -'

  • Noun: The speaker now sees the willow tree as his save haven and he carefully leaves his boat to rest.
  • He seems to be repenting for his previous transgressions.
• 'And through the meadows homeward went, in grave And serious mood;'

  • Contrast/Juxtaposition: The speaker is now in deep thought, reflecting on what he’s done.
  • He is effectively running away, seeking home for comfort.
• 'but after I had seen That spectacle,'


  Noun: the mountain made such an impression that he can no longer name it. It is simply a striking display in his mind.
• 'for many days, my brain Worked with a dim and undetermined sense Of unknown modes of being;'

  The memory of the mountain haunts the speaker’s mind to the point where he becomes disorientated.
• 'o'er my thoughts There hung a darkness, call it solitude Or blank desertion.'

  Verb: heavy and oppressive.
• 'No familiar shapes Remained, no pleasant images of trees, Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields;'

  Ironically, the memory of the mountain has ruined the speaker’s relationship with nature.
• 'But huge and mighty forms, that do not live Like living men,'

  Simile: the speaker’s memories of nature have been replaced with these overpowering and indeterminate things that still terrify him to his very core.
• 'moved slowly through the mind By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.'

  The memory of the “huge and mighty” mountains haunt and plague the speaker day and night. It is inescapable and relentless.