7.1.1

Summary

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Summary of The Prelude (Extract)

The Prelude is autobiographical and is a first-person account of experiences in Wordsworth’s own life.

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Summary

  • In this extract, Wordsworth describes a Summer’s evening taking a boat out across a lake.
  • At first, nature appears wondrous and enchanting. But when the speaker sees a large peak emerge, the speaker is frightened and turns back.
  • The experience haunts the speaker for years to come.
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Wordsworth

  • Wordsworth was a Romantic poet. He was interested in themes such as youth, imagination and nature.
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Full poem

  • The full poem is long and made up of 14 sections.
  • This poem focuses on Wordsworth’s personal and spiritual growth as he comes to learn about the universe and his place in it.
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Key ideas

  • Wordsworth explores the power of nature, presenting it as untameable and awe-inspiring.
    • Mankind’s inability to understand nature is also explored.
  • The reader also gets the sense that Wordsworth is trying to comprehend his own place in the universe.

Form and Structure of The Prelude

The Prelude is written in the form of a dramatic monologue and is split into three main parts.

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Dramatic monologue

  • The poem is written in the form of a dramatic monologue (a form of poetry where an imagined speaker addresses a silent audience).
  • It reveals the inner thoughts and feelings of the speaker as he describes a significant event from his childhood and how it shaped him.
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Three-part structure

  • The poem is split into three main parts:
    • Describing taking the boat out and the speaker’s positive reaction to nature.
    • The turning point, when the speaker sees the peak and turns around.
    • The poet’s reflections on how the experience changed him.

Rhyme and Rhythm in the Prelude

Wordsworth creates a speech-like rhythm to stress that this is the speaker's real-life experience. He sometimes breaks the rhythm to show the effect nature has on the speaker.

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Speech-like rhythm

  • The poet creates a realistic, speech-like rhythm through his use of:
    • Blank verse (non-rhyming).
    • Iambic pentameter.
    • Enjambment (when sentences flow over lines)
    • Caesura (breaks in the line).
  • The use of iambic pentameter also gives the poem a sense of seriousness. It indicates how significant this was in the speaker’s life.
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Rhythm breaks

  • The poet breaks iambic pentameter in some places.
    • E.g. “The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge”.
  • This could show how overwhelming the experience was and how nature’s power cannot be tamed.

Jump to other topics

1Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

2London - William Blake (1757-1827)

3Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

4Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

5War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)

6My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

7The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

8Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson

9Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)

10Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)

11Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)

12The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)

13Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)

14Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)

15Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)

16Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

16.1Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

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