DOAN vs The prelude Plan Flashcards
How do both DOAN and The Prelude present childhood - 1st point
As a time of freedom, exploration and wonder
Quotes for childhood and nature in DOAN
‘Bubbles gargled delicately’
‘gauze wove’
‘Dragonflies, spotted butterflies’
‘fattening dots burst’
(The images are all active, but speaker is passive, observing the natural world in motion around him).
'’Bubbles gargled delicately’ DOAN
Fascination by nature at a young age and exploring it.
‘fattening dots burst’ DOAN
-Innocent tone from speaker
-Frogs are growing older, similar to humans.
Quotes for childhood and nature the prelude - about lack of boundaries-1st point
‘I wheeled about’
‘Hissed along’
‘Like an untired horse’
‘Through the darkness and the cold we flew’
(Activity of speaker is emphasised; the natural world is a background in which his actions take place).
How do both DOAN and the prelude present time passing - 2nd point
In moments where children realise they are slowly approaching adulthood
Quotes for DOAN to show how the child’s perception of nature has changed - 2nd point.
-‘Fields were rank with cowdung in the grass’
‘Blunt heads farting’
‘The slap and pop were obscene threats’
(Heaney depicting nature as unsanitising and intimidating)
Quotes for The Prelude to show the child realising there’s more to life than the lake and his village. (2nd point)
‘Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud’
‘The distant hills… sent an alien sound’
‘not unnoticed’
‘the orange sky of evening died away’
(Enlarging imagery to depict the boy’s gradual realisation of his own significance to the world)
What is significant about the structure in DOAN and the prelude (3rd point)
-They both reinforce the theme of change/loss by using their titles
-DEATH of a naturalist
-The prelude is typically the part before the actual story begins, so childhood is only a small fraction of life.
Structure notes DOAN - 3rd point
-In DOAN there is a sudden change in tone and pace from 1st to 2nd stanza.
-Enjambment in 1st stanza to evoke child’s excitement with natural world, caesura in 2nd stanza to evoke caution and fear.
Structure notes the prelude - 3rd point
In The prelude the realisation of adulthood is less of a sudden change but more a gradual process.
-Caesura is used to juxtapose the feeling of freedom on the restriction and rules in the family home.
Context about DOAN
-Heaney grew up in Northern Ireland. Landscape and rural areas are important to his identity.
-References to local plants and dialect in poem show how important this location was to him.
-Heaney is a twentieth century poet who writes about the natural world, ‘new romantic’.
Context about The prelude
Wordsworth also grew up in a rural movement - Lake District, influence on him as a boy is detailed within the poem.
-Wordsworth was a member of the romantic movement, which believed in the power of nature to teach us how to live, society and rules crushes the spirit of children.
