Extract from the Prelude

Poet

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Context

Taken from the ‘epic’ poem called _The Prelude to Stealing the Boat. _

__Romantic poets aimed to present the world and challenge the concept of human existence. Such poems aimed to consider how people develop both morally and spiritually.

Plot

  • The poem is about the journey of a young boy who steals a boat.
  • He doesn’t travel very far, when he becomes fearful of the mountains that surround him.
  • He quickly returns home but the experience haunts him.

Form

  • Blank verse
  • Iambic pentameter
  • 10 syllables: five stressed and five unstressed

Structure

  • One stanza
  • 44 Lines

Language

  • Oxymoron
  • Personification
  • Simile
  • Alliteration
  • Repetition

Tone

  • Awe
  • Fear
  • Anger

Themes

  • Power of humans
  • Power of nature
  • Power of memory
  • P.T.S.D.
  • First person experience