A Complaint (1807)

Question 1

Author

Answer 1

William Wordsworth

Question 2

Story

Answer 2

1st person speaker recounts a past relationship that is now over

Question 3

Themes

Answer 3

Loss, change, emotion

Question 4

Tone

Answer 4

Nostalgic, sad, mournful

Question 5

Form and structure

Answer 5

Cyclic- opens and closes with a focus on change “there is change” “such change”

Past and present- contrast between past and present held evoke a sense of loss “blest I was then” “I am poor”

Question 6

Language

Answer 6

Title and formal language- “a complaint” and “business” show that this relationship was more formal, a friendship rather than romantic

Extended metaphor of water- starts as “a fountain” and becomes a “hidden well” showing the reduction and a death of a friendship. Wordsworth cannot live without water “murmuring, sparkling, living love”

Question 7

Context

Answer 7

Wordsworth has recently fallen out with one of his very good friends and collaborators, Taylor Coleridge