The Prelude by William Wordsworth: GCSE poem guide

This is ‘The Prelude’ by William Wordsworth, from the Power and Conflict cluster of the AQA anthology. I’m Hannah, and I teach English. The question we’ll answer: How does every part of the extract from ‘The Prelude’ show nature humbling a confident boy? We’ll go through the context, the poem section by section, one quotation explored closely, a model paragraph, the quotations to learn and which poems to compare it with. First, the context.

A Romantic poet. Wordsworth was one of the Romantic poets, who wrote in England in the late 1700s and early 1800s about strong feeling, ordinary people and the natural world. Nature as a teacher. Wordsworth believed nature could teach and shape people. In the extract, one night on a lake teaches a confident boy a lesson he cannot forget.

A poem about his own life. ‘The Prelude’ is a long autobiographical poem, published in 1850, the year Wordsworth died. The extract remembers a night from his childhood in the Lake District. A power above rulers. Blake attacks the people in charge and Shelley mocks them.

Wordsworth shows a power greater than any ruler: nature, which is older than any crown. Here’s the poem. Read it with me. One summer evening (led by her) I found A little boat tied to a willow tree Within a rocky cove, its usual home. Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in Pushed from the shore.

It was an act of stealth And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on; Leaving behind her still, on either side, Small circles glittering idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track Of sparkling light. But now, like one who rows, Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point With an unswerving line, I fixed my view Upon the summit of a craggy ridge, The horizon’s utmost boundary; far above Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky. She was an elfin pinnace; lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake, And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat Went heaving through the water like a swan; When, from behind that craggy steep till then The horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge, As if with voluntary power instinct, Upreared its head. I struck and struck again, And growing still in stature the grim shape Towered up between me and the stars, and still, For so it seemed, with purpose of its own And measured motion like a living thing, Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned, And through the silent water stole my way Back to the covert of the willow tree; There in her mooring-place I left my bark, - And through the meadows homeward went, in grave And serious mood; but after I had seen That spectacle, for many days, my brain Worked with a dim and undetermined sense Of unknown modes of being; o’er my thoughts There hung a darkness, call it solitude Or blank desertion.

No familiar shapes Remained, no pleasant images of trees, Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields; But huge and mighty forms, that do not live Like living men, moved slowly through the mind By day, and were a trouble to my dreams. Lines 11 to 20: Rowing with pride. “Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point”. The simile compares him to a skilled rower. The adjective “Proud” shows his confidence: he believes he is in control of the boat and the night.

“With an unswerving line, I fixed my view”. He fixes his eyes on one point and steers straight for it. Readers see a boy who thinks he can master the scene by will alone. “She was an elfin pinnace; lustily”. The metaphor “elfin pinnace” turns the boat into a small magical ship.

The adverb “lustily” shows his energy and joy as he rows. “Went heaving through the water like a swan”. The Romantics wrote about the natural world. Comparing himself to a swan, the boy feels at home in nature, graceful and at ease, just before it turns on him. Lines 30 to 33: The retreat home.

“And through the silent water stole my way”. The verb “stole” echoes the theft: he creeps back as quietly as he came. The adjective “silent” makes the lake feel watchful. “There in her mooring-place I left my bark”. He puts the boat back where it belongs.

Readers may see guilt here, and a wish to undo what he did. “And through the meadows homeward went, in grave”. ‘The Prelude’ tells how Wordsworth’s mind grew. This sombre walk home marks the moment the boy first feels how much bigger nature is than he is. So, to sum it up in one sentence: Wordsworth shows a proud boy, rowing a stolen boat, frightened home by a mountain that seems alive, so that readers see nature as a power that can humble people and shape their minds for days afterwards.

One quotation, explored closely: “a huge peak, black and huge”. Try it yourself first: method, zoom in, effect, and the context or purpose. Method: Repetition: the same adjective opens and closes the phrase. Zoom in: “huge” comes twice, with the colour black trapped between. The peak seems to fill the whole view.

Effect: The reader sees the mountain grow as the boy watches. The proud rower suddenly feels tiny. Context: Wordsworth was a Romantic who believed nature could teach and shape people. Here nature teaches a proud boy how small he is. And here’s a model What–How–Why paragraph for the question: How does Wordsworth present the power of nature in the extract from ‘The Prelude’?

In the extract from ‘The Prelude’, Wordsworth presents nature as a living force far stronger than a proud boy. The boy rows out with confidence until “a huge peak, black and huge” rises up behind the ridge, and the repetition of “huge” makes it grow before his eyes. Personification follows: the peak “Upreared its head” and “Strode after me”, as if it is chasing a thief. The blank verse runs on through enjambment, so the sentences keep going like the boy’s panic. Wordsworth was a Romantic who believed nature could teach and shape people.

The reader watches nature teach the boy a lesson he cannot shake off, because for days afterwards “There hung a darkness” over his thoughts. The quotations from ‘The Prelude’ worth learning by heart. “a huge peak, black and huge”. Repetition makes the mountain grow in the boy’s eyes and in his fear. “There hung a darkness”.

Nature’s power stays in his mind long after the night on the lake. In our scheme, ‘The Prelude’ is compared with ‘Storm on the Island’. The question: How do Wordsworth and Heaney present the power of nature over people? In the exam you choose your own second poem, so have two or three ready for each theme. Everything in this video comes from our Power and Conflict poetry scheme of learning for schools.

If you’re a teacher, Lesson 3 of every scheme is free at btl.education. Thank you for watching.