the prelude

• who wrote the prelude?

  William Wordsworth
• what is the context to the prelude?

  • semi-autobiographical epic poem
  • wordsworth was a romantic, so believed in the sublime (power of nature)
  • 1st hand experience
  • fear of the industrial uprising
• who is the persona in the prelude?

  wordsworth himself
• analyse "huge peak, black and huge"

  • syndetic monosyllabic repetitive listing
  • extended metaphor
  • nature is personified sinisterly
• analyse "one summer evening (led by her)"

  • pathetic fallacy (false sense of security)
  • first person
  • affectionate and simple (not skeptical as of yet)
• what is wordsworth's intention in "the prelude"?

  warning the dangers of industrialisation