the prelude

Question 1

author

Answer 1

william wordsworh

Question 2

context

Answer 2

William Wordsworth was one of the first and most influential of the Romantic era.
The Prelude is nostalgic in its thoughts about his childhood and the intense feelings of delight he experienced when he was walked or, as a child, played in the countryside.

Question 3

structure

Question 4

paragraph 1

Answer 4

• emphasis on childhood
• ‘for all of us’ - communal sense of joy, happiness within a young community
• ‘we hiss’d along’ - sibilance, speed, movements, freedom (wheeled + flew)
• ‘woodland pleasures, the resounding horn’ - a hunt, chase each other, vivid imagery

Question 5

paragraph 2

Answer 5

• power of nature, the sublime, reverent tone
• ‘the twilight blaz’d’ - contrasts winter, warmth, warm feelings reflecting back on his childhood
• ‘of melancholy’ - thoughts of nature spark strong emotion, linked with time, nostalgia, yearns for his youth
• ‘the orange sky of evening died away’ - cyclical, nature represents his youth, intrinsically linked, declines alongside the aging process