The prelude

• The extract from The Prelude explored during GCSE is from the first book “Introduction and school-time”, very close to the start of the poem.
• In SOTI, the conflict with nature is physical, as if they are being attacked by nature, whereas in The Prelude it is psychological – nature is inciting fear and redefining their view of the world.
• The poem centres on Wordsworth’s childhood memory in the Lake District where he steals a boat and rows it into the middle of a lake.
• A mountain by the lake grows far bigger than he thought it was.
• Wordsworth realises the immensity of the mountain and of nature.
• Wordsworth is scared and starts to row back to the shore.
• The experience of rowing out onto the lake changes how Wordsworth views nature and humanity.
• William Wordsworth was born in Cumberland in the Lake District.
• Wordsworth had a difficult childhood as he had a troubled relationship with his father and other relatives.
• Both his parents died during his adolescence, leading to Wordsworth being split up from his siblings and sent to live with different relatives.
• Wordsworth developed a deep affection for the Lake District as he spent so much time outside to escape his problems.
• William Wordsworth was a romantic poet, which meant he was in favour of resisting growing industrialism by remembering a simpler, natural past.
• The changing shape of industrial Britain is likely the force that inspired Wordsworth to explore his own moral and spiritual development through the medium of his autobiographical epic poem ‘The Prelude’.
• Wordsworth was an early supporter of the French revolution, like many romantic poets, who supported attempts to overthrow institutions.
• The Prelude can arguably be considered an Epic biography poem, and if it is autobiographical, then Wordsworth is its hero.
• The poem begins and ends in the mooring of the boat, symbolizing that the journey begins and finishes in the same place, but despite starting and finishing in the same place there are subtle changes which are shown through Wordsworth’s use of a linguistic echo.
• Wordsworth uses parallelism in his poem to contrast how the speaker was before and after the revelation of nature’s power, highlighting how the experience has acted as a catalyst in his development.
• The poem’s structure, with no breaks or pauses, causes the reader to feel breathless, reflecting how Wordsworth was overwhelmed by the immensity of the mountain and nature.
• Epic poetry typically focuses on heroic deeds and is characterized by its use of grandiose language and imagery.
• The entire extract of The Prelude is a single stanza which emphasizes the overwhelming power of nature.
• The poem’s breathless pace is also intensified by frequent enjambment and connectives that prevent the reader from pausing, inciting a sense of vastness in the reader by making the poem feel endless and immense.
• Wordsworth employs a cyclical structure in his poem to emphasize that the change that took place during the journey was internal and psychological rather than external and physical.
• The poem’s focus on nature and mundane everyday life may make it seem underwhelming compared to most epics, but it is possible Wordsworth intended the adventure to not be his physical actions but his spiritual growth and journey to becoming a poet, including his awakening to nature’s power and his own insignificance, providing the epic factor to the poem.
• The poet’s aim was to write a three part autobiographical epic called “The Recluse”, with The Prelude being the first volume of 400 pages.
• Romanticism stemmed from the enlightenment period which focused on objective science, logic and rationality.
• The speakers in both discover truths about the world through their encounters with nature.
• In The Prelude, the overwhelming power of nature leads to the speaker’s loss of eloquence and how he becomes unable to define his world.
• The poem could also potentially be about the Northern Ireland conflict.
• Both poems show nature as powerful - in SOTI, it is due to violence of nature – military metaphors - and in The Prelude, it is due to size and extent of nature, for example "huge peak".
• By romanticising his memory of the event (his revelation of nature's power), it suggests that it had such a big influence on him that it has caused him to remember it as mythical and magical.
• Both poems link to Milton’s Paradise Lost in the sense of the 'fall of man' and also to epic poetry in general.
• In SOTI, the islanders realise inability to control the storm, displayed through the poem’s cyclical content and narrative as the islanders always end up afraid.
• In The Prelude, failed attempts of mankind to overpower and manipulate a force beyond its control are displayed.
• In Ozymandias, this power is conveyed through the symbolism of the desert and time.
• Both poems display nature as more powerful than mankind; in Ozymandias, human power is shown as intrinsically weak and transient and lost to time and nature.
• The poet employs a range of thematically focused, semantic fields, namely of nature, power and pride, to create an emotive atmosphere and setting for his piece of work.
• The theme of pride is key in both, it being the cause of the speaker’s eventual fall.
• The speaker's ignorance of the power of nature is manifested in the "darkness" and lack of colour as the speaker has realised that he has been living metaphorically in the dark, so is naïve and unaware of his own insignificance.
• Romantic writers wanted to reject the cold unemotional rationalism of the enlightenment and instead use a more emotional and subjective view of the world.
• Romantic writers looked to the beauty of nature and past life in order to protest against the changing face of the world which was happening due to industrialisation.