the prelude

• The poem

  -Wordsworth looks our place in the natural world

  -It also highlights the power of nature and inner conflict
• "One summer evening (led by her)"


  -"her" = personifies nature, shows the power it has over humans
• "Straight I unloosed her chain"


  -personifies the boat = the writer is arrogant and wants to look like a hero

  -example of a heroic act as it is "Epic poetry", normally used when talking about heroes
• "Small circles glittering idly in the moon, until they melted into a tack of light"


  -Nature is presented as relaxed and beautiful (unlike later at the volta)

  -False sense of security is created which fuels arrogance

  -"glittering" + "sparkling" = celestial imagery- nature is greater than humans
• "She was an elfin pinnace; lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake"


  "elfin pinnace" = describe simple boat as something better and more heroic (link to epic poetry)

  "elfin" = small and magical

  -Plays with the idea of speaker conquering nature
• "When, from behind that craggy steep... a huge peak, black and huge"


  -Volta (turning point) = was safe and beautiful, now scary and dangerous

  -"craggy" = shatters previous delicacy of the description

  -"huge peak, black and huge" = monosyllabic and opposes "glittering"/out of place in the like the mountain is in the scenery

  -Repetition of "huge" = shows fear and panic
• "Upreared its head"


  -Personification = makes seem animalistic like nature is now defending itslef
• "Towered up between me and the stars"


  -"Towered" = far greater than him and more powerful

  -Blocks the stars = stars are navigation so therefore he feels lost/his fear is blocking out the beauty around him
• "...through the silent water stole my way back to the covert of the willow tree"


  -"stole" = now feels like he doesn't belong (opposes arrogance at start)

  -"covert" = wants to get to safety and wants to hide from the guilt he is feeling and the things he has seen
• "No familiar shapes remained"


  -His view of nature has now been tainted by his experience, a whole new "unfamiliar" experience
• "But huge and mighty forms, that do not live like living men"


  -"forms" = vague bc is unable to compare to anything - shows vulnerability as nature is so powerful cannot identify

  -"live like living men" = in awe of nature and the omniscience of it/ change in behavior shows that we should respect not abuse it
• "...were a trouble to my dreams"


  -Presents an unsettling image to show how nature scolded the speaker for thinking he was better than it

  -The speaker is better suited to thinking of his place in the world
• Context

  -The lake is Lake Ullswater

  -The poem was written in 1798 but wasn't published until after his death