The Prelude (william Wordsworth) Flashcards
“And in the frosty season, when the sun / Was set, and visible for many a mile”
setting = liminal space (end of day, winter) → metaphor for transition from innocence
paradox “sun…set” yet “visible” = memory still shining, lingering warmth in cold
sibilance “season…sun…set” = softness → nostalgic tone - could also represent the hazy memory of the ice skates on the ice
Was set - enjambment - 1st reference to time - passing of time
- past tense - foreshadows inevitability that everything comes to an end
“The cottage windows through the twilight blaz’d”
visual imagery “blaz’d” = warmth, emotional intensity
“twilight” = symbolic of fading joy or childhood
internal contrast = domestic security vs external wilderness
Wordsworth idealises home and youth as luminous against encroaching darkness, revealing how memory preserves warmth.
“It was a time of rapture: clear and loud”
abstract noun “rapture” = spiritual elevation → intense euphoria
caesura = emphasis on emotion before sensory detail
auditory contrast “clear and loud” = full-body memory
Wordsworth reflects on boyhood joy with religious reverence, casting youthful freedom as a near-transcendent state.
“Proud and exulting, like an untir’d horse, / That cares not for his home.”
simile = child as wild, unrestrained force of nature
dynamic verbs “proud…exulting” = overflowing confidence
detachment from “home” = symbolic of freedom from responsibility
Wordsworth draws on animalistic imagery to represent youthful vitality as glorious but naive independence.
“We hiss’d along the polish’d ice, in games”
onomatopoeia “hiss’d” = speed + exhilaration → physical intensity
“polish’d ice” = surface beauty → undercurrent of danger
collective pronoun “we” = unity, belonging in shared experience
Wordsworth captures the kinetic joy of childhood, framed by a natural world that mirrors human vitality.
“The Pack loud bellowing, and the hunted hare”
metaphor “The Pack” = boys as primal, untamed force
zoomorphism = dehumanises children → warlike or predatory
juxtaposition “Pack…hare” = instinctual chaos + fear
Wordsworth injects feral energy into the memory, suggesting youthful exuberance can veer toward violence and disorder.
“The leafless trees, and every icy crag / Tinkled like iron”
stark imagery “leafless…icy” = harshness, emotional shift
simile “like iron” = coldness, mechanical tone → nature becoming alien
hard consonants = disruption of earlier joy
Wordsworth transitions into a colder mood—reminding us that nature, like life, holds both beauty and indifference.
“Into the tumult sent an alien sound / Of melancholy”
oxymoron “alien…melancholy” = unexpected emotional intrusion
- no longer feel comfortable in this environment
enjambment = flow of thought disrupted by realisation
abstract noun “tumult” = inner chaos reflecting outer world
Wordsworth acknowledges the intrusion of grief or self-awareness into joy—where youthful pleasure is no longer pure.
“The orange sky of evening died away.”
colour symbolism “orange” = warmth now fading
metaphor “died away” = passing of time, innocence lost
cyclical ending = natural close to emotional journey
Wordsworth closes with visual finality, showing how joyful memory is shadowed by the realisation of time’s passage and inevitable change.
Title: The Prelude
“Prelude” = introduction → to a spiritual or creative journey
autobiographical = explores development of the poet’s mind
noun = musical metaphor → memory as a symphonic overture
excerpt = a fragment, symbolic of fragmented memory
Structure & Form
blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) = mimics natural thought + speech
enjambment = flowing, reflective tone → movement of memory
retrospective voice = adult poet reflecting on boyhood → dual perspective
single stanza = breathless excitement of memory
Context
Romantic poet = emphasis on emotion, nature, and imagination
part of epic autobiographical poem (The Prelude)
wrote post-French Revolution → fascination with freedom and loss
childhood seen as sacred, unspoiled by society
Themes
Power of nature
Childhood and memory
Joy and loss
Growth and transformation
Innocence to experience
