EXTRACT FROM, THE PRELUDE

• "One summer evening (led by her) I found A little boat" - fairy tale narrative suggests a magical and inspiring memory
• "It was an act of stealth And troubled pleasure" - reflect secretiveness implying he feels a sense of guilt + oxymoron suggesting the reader is feeling the sublimeness of nature
• "Small circles glittering idly in the moon." - suggests that nature can be so effortlessly beautiful
• "Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky" - 'stars' connote heaven, hope, guidance and 'grey' connotes misery, dullness and darkness both highlighting the duality of nature
• "lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake" - creates a sense of gentleness and respect for nature
• "Went heaving through the water like a swan" - verb 'heaving' suggests that his movements have now become difficult suggesting nature is more powerful than humans + simile juxtaposes this idea instead implying that humans can coincide with nature gracefully
• "a huge peak, black and huge, As if with voluntary power instinct, Upreared its head." - semantic field of intimidation + repetition emphasises the daunting demeanour of nature
• "the grim shape Towered up between me and the stars" - enigma of this 'shape' suggesting it is ominous and terrifying + imagery of it being a physical barrier between the narrator and heaven suggesting humans will have to respect nature to go to heaven
• "No familiar shapes Remained, no peasant images of trees, Of the sea or sky, no colours of green fields" - anaphora emphasises Wordsworth's memory of this experience being tainted by the fear his felt
• "that do not live Like living men" - simile highlighting how nature is superior to humans
• "moved slowly through the mind By day, and were a trouble to my dreams." - Wordsworth now has long-lasting, haunting memories of his experience with nature reflecting natures permanent power over humans