Excerpt From The Prelude SS Flashcards
Title ‘Excerpt from the prelude’
‘Prelude’ —> means ‘introduction or start to something. Introduces the end of a period of time and how the writer tries to find joy in the past. Poem signifies start of change from joy to winter and sorrow.
Uses in media res to begin midway. Begins in the midst of reminiscence. At the climax of joy indicating what poem is about
‘Cottage Windows through the twilight blaz’d, I heeded not the summons:- happy time’
‘Cottage’ —> creates strong pastoral imagery linking to Wordsworth as a romantic in love with nature. Against Industrial Revolution.
‘Twilight’ —> signifies how the poem is the end of a period in his life
‘-‘ use of Caesarea. Is breathless with joy at the time.
‘Heeded not the summons’ -> ‘summons’ are callings of change. ‘Heeded not’ indicates a carefree and ignorant nature. So engrossed in joy of moment.
‘It was indeed, for all of us; to me/ It was a time of rapture: clear and loud’
‘It was’ —> use of anaphora indicates reminiscent tone as he thinks of past.
‘All’ —> shared period of happiness showing extent of joy
‘Rapture’ —> refers to intense and extreme joy within life. Since he was a romantic can link to joue de vivre.
‘Clear and loud’ —> creates clarity within his thoughts and emotions whilst auditory language indicates how vivid the memories are for him. Clarity within his life and emotive state.
‘Proud and exulting, like an untir’d horse, that cares not for his home - all shod with steel’
Uses a similie to represent himself as a horse
‘Horse’ —> adds to the pastoral imagery created in narrative.
‘Untir’d’ —> implies energised and cannot be worn out. May suggest he was unstoppable in his joy and energy. Intense energy like that of a horse.
‘Cares not for his home’ —> ‘home’ creates a very domestic imagery. Can imply a docile nature. ‘Not’ juxtaposes creating ideas of adventure and exploration.
Quick change to ‘steel’ indicates fast pace of his childhood and how time is rapid moving
‘Shod with steel’ —> sibilance creates elongated happiness in repetitive sounds.
‘Woodland pleasures, the resounding horn, the Pack loud bellowing,’
- all descriptions can create pastoral imagery and auditory language indicating how sensory his experiences was and is in his memories. Transcendental of just visions of past as he can remember other senses.
‘Pack’ can refer to feral animals
‘Pack’ —> can also refer to a pack of children who act in a feral and animalistic manner. Live amongst nature freely seeking for quintessential joy instead of chasing material goods.
‘Through the darkness and the cold we flew, and not a voice was idle; with the din’
- ‘darkness’ and ‘cold’ —> atmospheric nouns create harshness in environment. However, this does not deter spirit of joy of narrator in their past.
‘Flew’ —> felt elevated in joy and could not be grounded or held back. Describes childhood as imaginative.
‘Not a Voice was idle’ —> no lacklustre or inactivity in environment. All energised and exhilarated ‘din’ indicates cacophony
‘Leafless trees and every icy crag tinkled like iron,’
- ‘leafless’ and ‘icy’ connote to the start of winter as all life dissipates and dies away similar to the narrators childhood. Still uses pastoral imagery
‘Tinkled like iron’ uses auditory language and a reference to metal again to indicates lexical cohesion as constant theme of ‘audio’ and ‘metal’ is used.
‘Into the tumult sent an alien sound of melancholy, not unnoticed’
‘Aliens sound’ —> ‘alien’ implies a sense of being foreign and unusually different. Refers to idea of ‘melancholy’ —> indicating the sadness of joy and childhood ending. ‘Alien’ shows how this is an unusual experience indicating transition of a period within his life.
‘Not unnoticed’ —> distinguished from environment as it is easily observed. Can be quite drastic indicating ambiguous nature of later in life.
‘The frosty season, when the sun was set, and visible for many a mile’
- ‘frosty’ and ‘sun’ uses pathetic fallacy however, create juxtaposing connotations showing the duality of seasons and life within the poem. Links to context of poem being about the change in life as poet reminisces on childhood.
- ‘sun’ and ‘set’ creates sibilance in this case reflecting the pursuit of joy’
‘Visible for many a mile’ —> refers to sunlight illuminating land. Sun connotes to life so at the start of poem, the sun is centralised and dominant indicating how the vibrancy of life is dominant.
Overview
Wordsworth uses the poem ‘Excerpt from the Prelude’ as a vehicle to underscore the beauty of childhood and nature through his reminiscent nature of his carefree, jubilant and memorable past. However, he also draws attention to the fleeting nature of joyful periods in the past by portraying happiness as momentarily through his use of changing imagery. As a romantic poet, Wordsworth held an elevated view of nature and a dislike of industrial England, as a result, this affects the concepts conveyed in his works.
