Extract from, the prelude

Language Techniques
1. Language Techniques
  1. "one summer" starts with summer so the reader expects a nice happy poem so it is more of a shock when it turns dark and mysterious
2. Personification
  1. he refers to the boat as "her"
3. Imagery
  1. "There hung a darkness"the word "hung" is very sinister and also : darkness is scary.
  2. "sparkling light" the word "sparkling" connotes precious items like diamonds.
Themes
1. The night: the poem seems to suggest that you can sometimes experience feelings and events more clearly at night, perhaps due to loneliness.
2. Nature: humanity is part of nature and sometimes we can be made to feel very small and insignificant by the natural world
3. Loneliness: Wordsworth is often on his own throughout The Prelude and this is important to him. He can think more clearly and is more affected by events and places as a result.
Structure
1. This extract is a complete story in itself. It starts with "One summer evening..." and finishes with the effects on his mind of the boat trip: "a trouble to my dreams".
2. 44 lines and is blank verse
3. There are no stanzas
sound
1. The poet uses "and"s throughout to give the verse a breathless quality.
2. The Prelude is conversational

Resource summary

	Created by Isabella Grogan over 8 years ago