Extract From The Prelude 2

Question 1

Meaning behind

Answer 1

Man and society are prideful and arrogant.
Nature is powerful and terrifying.
Through mans experience of nature, he’s reminded of his lack of importance + superiority in the world.

Question 2

How does enlightenment poetry 1630-1780 link to Romanticism.

Answer 2

Enlightenment poetry is realistic and instructive (time of scientific developments and rationalism).
Wordsworth was a supporter of the French Revolution until it became violent and is said to have ‘brought home the evil of mankind’.
It was therefore no longer popular to write poems that criticised society so Romanticism became more popular as a direct opposition to enlightenment poetry.

Question 3

Romanticism themes and how it’s linked to the prelude

Answer 3

Power of imagination 
Dislike of urban life (result of reaction to industrial revolution)
Embrace of natural world (mountain)
Love of supernatural (power of nature)
Ordinary everyday language used.

Question 4

Where did the poem take place

Answer 4

True story

Wordsworth sailing on Ullswater lake in the Lake District.

Question 5

Form- message

Answer 5

Epic poem: Long narratives which tell exciting adventures, heroic feats and focusses on one heroic character.

Nature is personified as the hero.

He’s awakening and understanding the power of nature. Saw as such an important moment in Wordsworth’s life.

Question 6

How does extract from the prelude link to John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Answer 6

Paradise lost is about Adam and Eves temptation and being cast into the fallen world. Wordsworths poem begins in the fallen world.
Paradise lost was an epic poem that was influential at the time so all philosophical, lengthy poems were written in blank verse.

Like prelude, also written in iambic pentameter.
Ends in the line ‘the world was all before them’ whereas prelude: ‘the earth is all before me’

Question 7

Structure - effect

Answer 7

Blank verse- no rhyme scheme
But in iambic pentameter (lines of 10 syllables with alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

One long verses - no stanza changes, no verse breaks so when reading, the reader is overwhelmed by immensity of poem- breathless.
Reflects how young Wordsworth felt by experience with nature.
Helps reader empathise with emotions of Wordsworth.

Question 8

Effect of enjambment

Answer 8

‘I found
A little boat’

Inability to stop and order thoughts, overpowering urge to communicate.
Shows overwhelming effect nature has upon the child.

Question 9

How does stealing the boat was an act of ‘stealth’ on Line 5 link to line 30 ‘stole’ my way.

Answer 9

‘Stealth’ noun- connotations of boy being sneaky and sly- action is morally wrong- man is selfish- society made up of people who are proud and take from nature (aggressive).

‘Stole’ verb- poet is frightened - desperation and fear.

Question 10

Arrogance of man

Answer 10

‘Proud of his skill’
Pride the boy feels will be washed away + he will be humbled by the mountain.

Presentation of man: arrogance- thinking he’s superior.

‘To reach a chosen point’

‘He thinks the craggy ridge’ is the ‘utmost boundary’
Metaphor for man thinking they know everything.
Shock- self realisation that poet doesn’t know everything when he sees the rest of the mountain behind the ‘craggy ridge’
Realisation of how minute + unimportant human life is when compared to dominance of nature.
Much more to life than poet perceives.

Question 11

Effect of present participles

Answer 11

‘Stepping’
‘Leaving’

‘Glittering’ (climax of positivity)
‘Sparkling’

‘Heaving’ (sees mountain)

Reflects mood of the poem

Question 12

‘Small circles glittering idly in the moon’

Answer 12

Deliberately positive imagery- magical

Leads to a greater contrast when the poem turns sinister.

Question 13

‘To reach a chosen point’

Answer 13

‘Chosen’ adjective
He feels completely in control
Arrogance

Question 14

How does the personification of nature change

Answer 14

‘Led by her’
‘Her’ pronoun = nature
Personification of nature
Nature takes the poet to steal the boat- reflects Wordsworths childhood naivety.

‘Upreared its head’
‘It’s’
Lack of personification of cliffs
Poet loses his power- can no longer define things how he wants.
Sudden shift in pronouns shows the shock he’s feeling- losing his vocabulary.

Question 15

Effect of (simplistic) language towards the end.

Answer 15

‘Huge peak’- simplistic language
‘Black and huge’- repetition of adjective ‘huge’
Stuttering- lost confidence

‘Grave and serious mood’
Adjectives ‘Grave’ and ‘serious’
Unspecific vague language shows enormity of what happened. Unable to articulate.

‘Darkness, call it solitude’
Struggling to describe what happened to him.

Repetition of ‘no’
Adverb
Poet realises there’s so much he doesn’t know.
Pride has vanished and can only explain what he doesn’t know and what isn’t happening.

Vague language juxtaposes specific language at the beginning. Shows the transition the poet has gone through

Question 16

Poet is losing his grip on reality

Answer 16

‘Like a living thing, strode after me’
Mountain has a purpose and shocks boy into realising that he’s not powerful
Mythical- epic poem

Question 17

Why did nature take him onto the boat

Answer 17

Wordsworth pointing out that nature’s going to show him the problem that is the ‘mean and vulgar works of man’ (referred to later in the prelude)

Question 18

‘Elfin pinnace’

Answer 18

‘pinnace’- sailing ships the ‘little boat’ from line 2 has grown in the poets mind to a ship.
Pride of poet.
Exaggeration for effect.
‘Elfin’ adjective - magical, mythical nature- experience is so amazing for the poet.

Question 19

‘When, from behind that craggy steep till then
The horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge,
As if with voluntary power instinct
Upreared it’s head’

Answer 19

Deliberate delay in reveal of subject and verb heightens the suspense the reader feels- allows reader to empathise with how poet was feeling- tension and fear.
Long elaborate sentence and enjambment makes it breathtaking to read + reflects the fear of the poet.