comparison: the prelude and death of a naturalist

Question 1

how is the theme of past/ childhood presented in these poems (3x key ideas)

Answer 1

• past as a time of freedom and joy
• past as a time when the dangers were still a mystery (blissful ignorance)
• past (childhood) has an inevitable end

Question 2

past as a time of freedom and joy quotes for the prelude

Answer 2

• like an untired horse
• polished ice, woodland pleasures, distant hills

Question 3

past as a time of freedom and joy analysis of these quotes:
- like an untired horse
- polished ice, woodland pleasures, distant hills

Answer 3

• ‘like an untired horse’
  Simile, associates narrator with strength, youthful energy and nature- is free, likes to be in nature (never ‘tired’ of it), suggests liberation- doesn’t need to work – link to romantic movement
• ‘polished ice’ ‘woodland pleasures’ ‘distant hills’
  Mirrors the Romantic ideal of nature as boundless and sublime- a direct challenge to the political constraints of industrial England, emphasises no boundaries, spatial imagery, adjective ‘distant’- suggests Wordsworth sees no end of this joy. Could also be a metaphor for childhood imagination, positive tone (‘pleasures’)- emphasised by the fact he explicitly says it was a ‘happy time’- simple adjective highlights the joy

Question 4

past as a time of freedom and joy quotes for death of a naturalist

Answer 4

• best of all was the warm thick slobber
• and
• dragon flies, spotted butterflies

Question 5

past as a time of freedom and joy analysis of these quotes:
- best of all was the warm thick slobber
- and
- dragon flies, spotted butterflies

Answer 5

• ‘best of all was the warm thick slobber
  Superlative, childlike language, highlights naivety and innocence
• ‘and’
  Repetition, mimics childlike dialect- interested in learning, passion
• ‘dragon-flies, spotted butterflies’
  Aware, notices beauty nature, not limited by fear or disgust, grew up in rural northern Ireland on a farm- appreciation for nature for a young age
  Contrasts with ‘warm thick slobber’- love for nature is not conditional- loves a range not just the typically beautiful

Question 6

past is a time when the dangers were still a mystery (blissful ignorance) quotes for the prelude

Answer 6

• the cottage windows through the twilight blazed

Question 7

past is a time when the dangers were still a mystery (blissful ignorance) analysis of these quotes:
- the cottage windows through the twilight blazed

Answer 7

• ‘the cottage windows through the twilight blazed’
  Naïve, think nature is more of a home to them than their actual one- felt unhappy at his grandparents house, highlighted by the contrast between ‘frosty’ (cold) and ‘blazed’ (hot) suggests nature and the domestic are incompatible

Question 8

past is a time when the dangers were still a mystery (blissful ignorance) quotes for death of a naturalist

Answer 8

• bubbles gargled delicately
• and wait and watch
• i sickened, turned, and ran

Question 9

past is a time when the dangers were still a mystery (blissful ignorance) analysis of these quotes:
- bubbles gargled delicately
- and wait and watch
- i sickened, turned, and ran

Answer 9

• ‘bubbles gargled delicately’
  Oxymoron, fascinated by something they should be repelled by, disgusting imagery
• ‘and wait and watch’
  Repetition of and suggests slow pace so speaker at home with nature, no sense of fear or urgency
• ‘I sickened, turned, and ran’
  Quick succession of verbs, highlights his horrified reaction, contrasts with the descriptiveness of the rest of the poem, suggesting he has realised too late the dangers of nature which his childhood blissful ignorance had ignored- poem inspired by his brother who died aged 4 which explains the shift from fascination to terror

Question 10

past (childhood) has an inevitable end quotes for the prelude

Answer 10

• resounding horn, pack, hunted hare
• volta (Meanwhile)

Question 11

past (childhood) has an inevitable end analysis of these quotes:
- resounding horn, pack, hunted hare
- volta (Meanwhile)

Answer 11

• ‘resounding horn’ ‘Pack’ ‘hunted hare’
  Childhood games are compared to hunts (loud, manic and intrinsically rooted in nature), which suggests at the time its energetic and innocent, but as Wordsworth is recounting these memories through his autobiographical poem it could perhaps be an allegory for his own childhood being hunted by adulthood- his mother died when he was 8, forcing him to grow up earlier.
• Emphasised by the volta ‘meanwhile’
  Represents the shift of growing up- they were hunting with nature but now when looking at the past the ‘din’ (the sounds of the humans) are unfamiliar and boisterous

Question 12

past (childhood) has an inevitable end quotes for death of a naturalist

Answer 12

• every spring
• great slime kings
• if i dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it
• poised like mud grenades, cocked

Question 13

past (childhood) has an inevitable end analysis of these quotes:
- every spring
- great slime kings
- if i dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it
- poised like mud grenades, cocked

Answer 13

• ‘every spring’
  Determiner suggests his fascination with nature is long lasting, it repeats
  However, just like Wordsworth, Heaney contrasts this with the final statement ‘if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it’, which depicts a nightmarish image. Even though ‘frogspawn’ is a start of a new life, cyclical to the beginning, it suggests the change is permanent- he will never love nature again.
• Contrast between with ‘great slime kings’ and ‘spawn would clutch it’- inevitable end as spawn must grow up- present can seem horrifying when compared to the past- created through the semantic field of war (‘poised like mud grenades’, ‘cocked’)- it was only once Heaney was 29 that the troubles started with the IRA. This mimics how it is only once the ‘spawn’ grows up and time pasts that the ‘slime kings’ and his surroundings begin to scare him, juxtaposing significantly to what he was previously comfortable with.