Extract from the Prelude Flashcards
One summer evening (led by her)
Power of nature’s coercion
Naive, passivity, sinister undertones, foreboding of “led” being out of the persona’s control
Ambiguity of “her” creates alternate interpretation of Mother Nature - Romantic poet
Small circles glittering idly in the moon
Calm, tranquil visual imagery contrasts later on in the poem
Glittering connotes to innocence and peace
With an unswerving line
Control, power, certainty
Silent lake … Silent water
Cyclical structure highlighting how the peace of the silence changes to the uncomfortable, feared nature of the silence
Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.
Highlights the loss of innocence as stars symbolises heaven = Nothing in the way of that
heaving through the water like a swan
Paradoxical zoomorphic imagery
huge peak, black and huge
Repetition may symbolise surprise
Unsettling, disconcerting, foreboding, emphasising fear through the intimidating connotations
instinct… upreared… like a living thing / Strode
Industrial revolution = Personified as the great black peak?
Animalistic, Dominance, Predatory, Confrontational connotations of upreared
Sudden, Harsh, Powerful, Violent
struck and struck again
Repetition
Fear, struggle, desparation, escape
grim shape
Grim reaper = Death imagery, foreboding, dread
hung a darkness
Metaphor to highlight looming everprescence of doubts
were a trouble to my dreams
Sleep disturbed -> Unconscious also disturbed
- Tranquility + mental stability
- Overwhelming and all-consuming
- Juxtaposes ‘troubled pleasure’ -> physical exertion vs mental and psychological disturbance
towered up between me and the stars
Subversion of fate
stars = Heaven
Lack of stars = In the dark = Fear of the unknown, dominance of the darkness highlighting the power of nature over the persona and subversion of holy concepts
no familiar shapes
no pleasant images
no colours of green fields;
Finality ;
Repetition highlights obsession, complete absence of any form of joy highlighting how all-consuming their dread is
What kind of poem was Wordsworth
Romantic
Protesting against changing world due to industrialisation
