the prelude

• extract begins on a summer evening, he finds a boat and goes out on the lake. narrator is initially happy and confident and that nature is beautiful

  a mountain appears on the horizon and he feels threatened by its size and power, he goes home yet his view on nature is permanently altered
• “a little boat tied to a willow tree”

  • the boat is a metaphor of man’s influence
  • still anchored by the tree representing time
• “ small circles glittering idly in the moon”

  • wadsworth creates idyllic and peacful scene
  • semantic field of peace
• “the horizon‘s bound, a huge black peak and huge“

  • horizon marks the shift in tone
  • the language becomes darker and dangerous
  • the peak mountain is personified “with purpose of its own”
  • natire is shown as aggressive
• “with trembling oars”

  • trembling connotates the fear and vulnerability of the poet
  • he is shown like a wounded animal, hiding away
• the poem changes from euphony (pleasant sounding) to a cacophony (harsh and rough sounding words)
• “there hung a darkness”

  • the darkness hanging over him represents his change to a darker mood at the end of the journey
  • the words carry a dark and sinister tone, more morbid and melancholy
  • he is reflecting on the conflict in his mind of the juxtaposed peacful side of nature and the harsh extremes it also contains.
• william wadsworth was a romantic poet, he wrote about the world we live in which challenged people and their perspective at the time
• nature is shown as more powerful as man
• the poem symbolically uses the journey on the river to mirror the poets own spiritual journey of reflection
• the poem is structured to show the contrast of the serene and peacful start where he works with nature, to the dark and disturbing battle shown when he tries to control his journey through rowing
• the conflict between man and nature is caused by man’s attempt to manipulate nature, nature still contains a power and majesty beyond mankinds ability to command