Summary
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Power & Conflict, topic 7.1.1
Summary of The Prelude (Extract)
The Prelude is autobiographical and is a first-person account of experiences in Wordsworth’s own life.
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.
Wordsworth
- Wordsworth was a Romantic poet. He was interested in themes such as youth, imagination and nature.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Test yourself on Summary
Who wrote The Prelude?
The Prelude (Extract)
Which of these are true about Wordsworth?
Which of these are true about this extract from The Prelude?
Structure of the Prelude (Extract)