The prelude

• William Wordsworth wrote 'The Prelude'
• The boat is a metaphor of man’s influence


  Still anchored by the tree representing nature
• Loosening the chain and pushing from shore

  Represents the poet as mankind moving to stand on its own two feet
• The mood changed with the craggy ridge and horizons boundary

  Represents nature, limiting the progress of the poet
• "elfin pinnace"

  fairy boat
• The Horizon marks the shift in tone


  The language becomes darker and dangerous
• The peak, mountain, is personified “with purpose of its own”

  Nature shown as aggressive
• Use of ‘trembling’ connotes the fear and vulnerability of the poet


  He is shown like a wounded animal, hiding away
• The darkness hanging over him represents his change to a darker mood at the end of the journey


  The words all carry a dark and sinister tone, more morbid and melancholy
• William Wordsworth was a romantic poet


  He wrote poems challenging people and the way they thought at the time
• During this time ‘epic’ poems of large length were common
• This extract is from a much larger poem
• The journey in the poem represents a spiritual journey
• Nature is shown at peace with the poet at first
• As the poem progresses, the journey becomes rougher
• The poem symbolically uses the journey on the river to mirror the poet's own spiritual journey of reflection
• The conflict between man and nature is caused by man's attempt to manipulate nature
• The poet is structured to show the contrast of the serene and peaceful start with nature to the dark and disturbing battle with nature
• The poet is at peace at first but becomes troubled by the end of the journey
• The journey helps show how mankind is a part of nature but does not rule over it
• The mountain is shown in the poem like a great angry entity
• The mountain seems to take offense at the poet going too far or too ‘lustily’
• The mountain is like a game of ‘chicken’ where the poet is rowing toward it
• Game of 'chicken'


  • The poet rowing toward the mountain, the closer he gets, the more menacing it appears before he backs away
• Fear

  Nature is shown to be more powerful than a human being. The narrator is left with a feeling of awe and respect for nature, but he's also scared of it
• Possessive pronoun


  The speaker is laying claim to her as a possession
• Extract from The Prelude: The poem uses a journey through nature to show the allegorical development of the narrator