Extract from The Prelude by William Wordsworth
Part of the AQA Poetry Anthology, Power and Conflict
Analyse the extract from “The Prelude” by William Wordsworth to understand the use of form, structure and poetic devices and how these relate to the underlying themes within the poem.
We’ve captured all of the points below in our PDF guide which you can download below.
Where to start
Analysing poetry can be a little daunting at first, and you may need to read it a few times before you understand what the poet is trying to say. Don’t worry though, you will soon get used to it and start to understand how to approach analysing a poem.
It’s important that you use the version of the poem from your anthology when doing your analysis. The layout of some poems can differ from publication to publication (particularly over the internet) – perhaps some words will have been changed or the stanzas may be set out differently. This can affect the analysis. So, always work from the version set out in your anthology as this is how the poem will be laid out in your exam.
When analysing the poem try to do a little research on the poet themselves. It is not strictly necessary but understanding a little about them and their background can provide some helpful context to the poem which can be useful in your analysis.
Use the button opposite to download a clean version of the extract from The Prelude by William Wordsworth. Use this to mark up your own notes using the analysis below.
About the poet - William Wordsworth
- Wordsworth did not have a happy childhood. His parents both died when he was just a teenager.
- He was separated from his siblings and sent off to live with his grandparents near Penrith.
- His relationship with his grandparents was not a comfortable one and to escape a difficult household he would spend hours walking in the nearby countryside.
- This time spent exploring the area around him was when Wordsworth developed his love for nature.
- Wordsworth is considered to be a romantic poet and his love of nature is evident in many of his poems where it is a key focus.
Wordsworth on Helvellyn by Benjamin Haydon (National Portrait Gallery).
Background to the poem
Image by Larisa Koshkina from Pixabay
- Wordsworth began writing ‘The Prelude’ in 1798 when he was 28.
- The entire poem was intended to be a three-part epic poem about his life, but he died before it could be published.
- He worked on the poem for most of his life and his wife published it shortly after he died.
- As noted above Wordsworth is considered a romantic poem, and this short extract from The Prelude definitely fits comfortably within that category.
What is the poem about?
- This short extract from the larger epic poem is about an event from Wordsworth’s teenage life when he lived with his grandparents near Penrith.
- It is about a time when he stole a boat from a harbour and took it for a joyride across Lake Ullswater.
- To begin with he is very sure of himself, showing a certain arrogance in his ability to take the boat and sail it away.
- However, he soon becomes humbled by nature, when he sees a vast mountain and realises just how powerful nature is.
- His experience on the lake humbles him and he returns the boat feeling rather overwhelmed, and a very changed man to the one who stole the boat initially.
Image by Олег Скрипачук from Pixabay
So now we know that the poem is about let’s analyse how Wordsworth uses poetic devices to tell his story.
Form and Structure
The entire poem ‘The Prelude’ is very much considered to be an epic poem, telling stories from Wordsworth’s life. And whilst this shorter extract from the poem is nowhere near as long and eventful it does still very much fall within the genre of an epic poem itself. Why is this?
Well, there are a number of features of an epic poem and two that are evident here are:
1) The poem is written in the format of a narrator telling a story of an adventure. The adventure here is Wordsworth’s exploits in nature, which were such an important part of his life.
2) The poem comprises a momentous event which features a ‘hero’. Whether the hero here is Wordsworth himself, becoming a humbler, more honest man from accepting natures power, or whether the hero is nature itself is an interpretation you can make on reading the poem.
- The extract is written as one long solid verse with no breaks or pauses.
- This makes the reader feel very overwhelmed and breathless as the story progresses. This mimics the way Wordsworth becomes overcome by nature.
- There is no identifiable rhyme scheme either. It is written as if the narrator is simply telling a story, having a conversation.
- One important aspect of the poem is its rhythm. It is written in iambic pentameter, where every second syllable in each line is stressed. This echoes the beat of Wordsworth’s journey on the boat.
Use of language
- Wordsworth uses very simple, everyday language which reinforces the fact that the poem is a spoken ‘story’.
- References to ‘her’ at the beginning of them poem are to nature. Wordsworth is saying nature encouraged him to take the boat out to explore; it leads him… this is an important point!
- Personifying nature as female was his way of making her appear weaker, as in those days females were considered the weaker gender.
- Enjambment is used frequently at the beginning of the poem. This suggests his overwhelming urge to blurt out the story. It suggests excitement and the inability to properly order thoughts. It also adds to the overwhelming effect nature has on him.
Image by Hermann Traub from Pixabay
- Wordsworth describes stealing the boat as an ‘act of stealth’. This implies he knew it was wrong, it makes it appear sly and sneaky.
- Putting this together with the line ‘Proud of his skill’ when he describes his rowing this portrays him as proud and arrogant, taking what he wants without consequence.
- Describing his journey through the water Wordsworth uses strong, descriptive imagery, “circles glittering”, “sparkling light”. This shows the pleasure he was experiencing but tinges it once again with arrogance.
- The journey’s effect on Wordsworth becomes clearer when he describes the ‘little boat’ from the beginning of the poem to an ‘elfin pinnace’. This gives the journey a mystical quality, showing he has become enchanted by nature. This strengthens the ‘romantic’ genre of the poem by introducing a supernatural element. Nature is leading him on a magical journey.
- However, when confronted with the huge craggy mountain (which he had thought to be much smaller) he is shocked. The sheer size and dominance of the mountain makes him realise that he does not know everything, what he thought he knew (that the mountain was much smaller) was wrong. It makes him realise how minute, and unimportant human life is. This links back to the fact that ‘she’ encouraged him to take the boat. It shows nature teaching him a lesson.
- Having used personification throughout the poem to describe nature, he refers to the mountain as ‘it’. Where he previously had the ability to describe things as he wished, this power has left him.
- After his realisation the language in the poem changes dramatically, from descriptive imagery, to basic, repetitive (“no”) and simple. His arrogance and power have deserted him, and he is no longer able to express himself fully, he is overwhelmed and in shock.
- The closing lines of the poem show a scared, humbled boy who returns the boat to where he found it. The language is vague and reflects the enormity of his experience.
Themes and comparisons
If you’re presented with this poem in the exam you will be asked to compare it to one of the other poems from the anthology in some way. You may also decide to use it as the comparison poem. To do this you need to think about the themes that are presented in the poem and which other poems in the anthology have similar themes. We’ve summarised these briefly below.
Power of Man
At the beginning of the poem Wordsworth is arrogant and cocky.
Compare to:
- Ozymandias
- London
- My Last Duchess
- Tissue
- Storm on the Island
Power of Nature
His journey on the boat leaves him humbled by nature.
Compare to:
- Exposure
- Ozymandias
- Tissue
- Kamikaze
- Storm on the Island
Personal experience / memory
The poem is written about a true event in Wordsworth’s life.
Compare to:
- Poppies
- War Photographer
- Remains
- The Emigree
- My Last Duchess
What next?
We hope you’ve found this analysis useful, but please remember that we all interpret things differently. Just because we’ve read it one way, does not that it can not have an alternative meaning. Remember that when you’re reading it through – you could pick up on something totally different and that’s fine. There is no right or wrong interpretation of a poem – as long as you can analyse and justify why the poem makes you feel a certain way then there are marks to be had in an exam.
We have prepared a PDF summary sheet containing all of the information on this page which you may find useful when revising. Use this when reading the poem again and make your own notes and highlights. You can download it by clicking on the link below.
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Other Resources
This is a list of resources we’ve found really useful as we’ve been researching. Some of these are free, but some are paid resources. Please note that we do not earn any commission if you choose to purchase using the links below. There’s also some more of our resources below for you to download.
- Mr Bruff – he has some great resources on YouTube and through his website mrbuff.com.
- Collins Snap Revision book from Amazon
- PoemAnalysis
- savemyexams
- Tips on how to manage exam stress
- Tips on how to revise