The Prelude

• The Prelude can link with the themes of Power of Nature, Memory, Fear, Pride and Individual Experiences
• The Prelude was written by William Wordsworth.
• The Prelude is about a summer evening, when the narrator finds a boat, and takes it out on the lake. Initially, he seems happy and confident, but as a mountain appears on the horizon, he fears its size and power. He turns the boat around and goes home, but his view of nature has changed.
• The Prelude is an autobiographical poem.
• The Prelude is a first-person narrative. It sounds personal and describes a turning point in the poet's life.
• The Prelude uses blank (unrhymed in iambic pentameter) verse to make it sound serious and important, and the regular rhythm makes it sound like natural speech.
• The Prelude has three main sections. The first has a light and carefree tone, the second is dark and fearful, and the third is reflective.
• Beautiful imagery in The Prelude suggests a pretty, pastoral view of nature.
• Confident language in The Prelude gives the impression that the narrator feels powerful, almost arrogant in his view of himself and place in the world.
• The Prelude introduces dramatic language through initial glimpses of threatening language and becomes more intense after the mountain appears. It suggests how powerful nature is.
• Fearful language is presented in The Prelude to suggest a drop in confidence of the narrator at the end of the extract. The experience has a lasting, haunting effect on him.
• Key feelings in The Prelude include confidence in the beginning, which he then looses, fear of nature, and reflection on how the event changed him.
• Wordsworth was influenced by the romantic movement.
• Wordsworth believed in the power of imagination and the natural world.
• Wordsworth hints at the idea of the 'sublime', describing the intense, spiritual mixture of admiration and fear people experience when they see dramatic landscapes.
• Like other romantic poetry, The Prelude explores the connection between nature and human emotion, and the way human identity and character is shaped by experience.
• The Prelude we study is an extract from the first of fourteen books that make up Wordsworth's biographical poem 'The Prelude'.
• '(led by her)' Unclear who 'her' is, an earlier part of the poem suggests that it is nature, personified - The Prelude
• 'a little boat tied to a willow tree' happy, rural image. Innocent start to the extract - The Prelude
• 'a rocky cave, its usual home' seems as though this boat is familiar to the poet - The Prelude
• 'Straight I unloosed her chain' narrator appears confident - The Prelude
• 'it was an act of stealth and troubled pleasure' the narrator knows that what he's doing is wrong, this is the first sign that something isn't right. Also the oxymoron hints at the narrators guilt - The Prelude
• 'glittering idly in the moon, /until they melted all into one track/ of sparkling light.' Succession of 'l' sounds helps the poem flow, like a boat moving across a lake. Light imagery suggests beauty - The Prelude
• 'with an unswerving line' the narrator seems confident, maybe a bit arrogant, which contrasts the mood later in the poem - The Prelude
• 'The horizon's utmost boundary; far above/ was nothing but the stars and the grey sky' This emptiness and peacefulness contrasts the appearance of the mountain in line 22, which makes it more shocking - The Prelude
• 'She was an elfin pinnace' The metaphor of a fairy boat makes the scene seem magical and otherwordly, but still not threatening - The Prelude
• 'I dipped my oars into the silent lake' a peaceful scene, contrasted later - The Prelude
• 'like a swan' The natural simile shows that he's confident and in control which enhances the contrast - The Prelude
• 'When, from behind that craggy steep' The volta introduces a complete change in tone, the simple word is emphasised by being at the start of the line and by caesura - The Prelude
• 'The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge' a mountain appears on the horizon, accompanied by the use of darker and more threatening language - The Prelude
• 'As if with voluntary power instinct, upreared its head' The personification of the mountain is an ugly but powerful image which contrasts the earlier beautiful imagery - The Prelude
• 'I struck and struck again, and growing still in stature' as the narrator rows away, more and more mountain comes into view. This means that it appears as though the mountain is growing, like in a nightmare. The repetition of 'struck' suggests desperation - The Prelude
• 'the grim shape/ towered up between me and the stars' sibilance creates a sinister mood, and the verb 'towered' suggests power - The Prelude
• 'purpose of its own' 'measured motion' 'strode after me' the mountain is calm, powerful and in control. Role reversal as this contrasts the narrator's fear - The Prelude
• 'through the silent water stole my way/ back to the covert of the willow tree' the narrator is afraid and guilty and wants to hide away. He feels like an intruder - The Prelude
• 'in grave and serious mood' this event has had a big impact on him. 'grave' means serious, but may also be a reminder of his own mortality - The Prelude
• 'for many days' lasting impact of the event - The Prelude
• 'a dim and undetermined sense of unknown modes of being' vague language suggests that the narrator doesn't understand what he's seen and is struggling to describe it - The Prelude
• 'There hung a darkness, call it solitude' the narrator is left feeling alone and unsettled. Dark imagery - The Prelude
• 'no pleasant images of trees, of sea or sky' the narrator no longer thinks of nature as pretty images, but has learnt there is a darker side to nature - The Prelude