Excerpt from the Prelude - William Wordsworth

• • "In the frosty season when the sun was set"
  • "The cottage windows through the twilight blaz'd"
  • Wordsworth reflects on his childhood in the Lake district during winter
  • When playing with his friends in nature Wordsworth is called home by the light he notices in the window
  • This symbolises the warmth and comfort of wordsworths childhood which contrasts his adult life which is revealed later in the poem
• • "It was a time of rapture: clear and loud"
  • Wordsworth reflects on fond childhood memories where most days he was free to enjoy ice-skating
  • Wordsworth wishes this happiness lasted longer emphasising his joy at the time
• • "We hissed along the polished ice"
  • Wordsworth enjoyed chasing his friends in games whilst ice-skating exemplifying the joy and delight childhood brings
  • Wordsworth had a sense of freedom as a child unlike his adult self
• • "The pack loud bellowing and the hunted hare"
  • Wordsworth contrasts his childhood chase with hunting during his adult life revealing how in time children will mature and grow up into adults with less childhood innocence and more responsibilities
  • Wordsworth is explaining how we should make the most of our childhood and appreciate nature more - nature shaped him into who he is
• • "The orange sky of evening died away"
  • Wordsworth compares the setting sun which creates darkness to the transition from childhood to adulthood - the warmth and happiness of childhood is replaced by a sense of maturity and responsibility as an adult
  • Wordsworth touches on how the passage of time is unstoppable and the cycle of life is endless