The prelude

Question 1

“Led by her”

Answer 1

• Nature is anthropamorphised as a female: connections of caring and sustaining life
• Nature nurtures an entire planet, therefore demonstrates its superior power
• “Led by” suggest the poet has no choice in what was happening. Wordsworth was a pantheist - being lead to see God in nature?-

Question 2

“It was an act of stealth and troubled pleasure”

Answer 2

• “Stealth” has connotations of sneaky and sly actions. The action is morally wrong however, the poet doesn’t care and carries on. Man is shown as selfish, taking whatever he wants with no though of the consequences
• “Troubled pleasure” - oxymoron shows how he found nature beautiful and intimidating

Question 3

“A huge peak, black and huge […] upreared its head”

Answer 3

• Volta in the poem: realises the power of nature. Self-realisation that the poet does not know everthing - loss of pride and arrogance: has been humbled by nature
• Repetition of “huge” seems disjointed: suggests the impact of the realisation is so great that he can’t create a sentence
• “Upreared its head”: the peak is anthropamorphised: like a gothic monster. The is on top: shows nature is on a higher level

Question 4

Paradise lost - THE PRELUDE

Answer 4

• Both are epic poems
• Paradise lost ends with Adam and Eve ends in the fallen world (hell) while the prelude starts in the fallen world (a world of pride and arrogance)
• Paradise lost and prelude are both written in blank verse
• The prelude contemplates the fall of man in comparison to nature and the imporant transition from childhood to manhood
• Intertextuality

Question 5

“With trembling oars

Answer 5

• Juxtaposes the beginning of the poem
• His ands are “trembling” because he is overwhelmed by nature
• Shows power of nature
• Oars are anthropamorphised: they are trembling instead of the man. Shows how he is still arrogant