Extract from the prelude

'One summer evening (led by her)'

- 'one summer' romantic poet setting, shows it significant he remembers it vividly

- this line foreshadows that the event will take a dark turn, to symbolize the end of childlike innocence

- speaker is dismissive of nature's power

- the personification refers to nature as his lover, strong relationship between nature and humans

- 'her' allusion to mother nature

'It was an act of stealth And troubled pleasure,'

- the juxtaposition between 'troubled' and 'pleasure' highlights the tension of adrenaline, it foreshadows that 'pleasure will turn into 'trouble' as the mountain appears

- the iambic pentameter creates a colloquial tone with 'was' as Wordsworth is looking back on his past self

- the 'act of stealth' implies secrecy, it portrays the boy as a thief, Wordsworth uses this autobiographical memory to demonstrate how growth requires us to experience a reality check as to things that are greater then us

'With an unswerving line, I fixed my view Upon the summit of a craggy ridge, The horizon's utmost boundary;'

- still fixed in a narrow field of vision, he feels completely in control of his boat, his direction- reflects a logical way of thinking

- semi-colon marks the boy's optimum/ highest point of confidence before the structural rhythm of the poem starts to break apart as the mountain appears

- 'horizon's utmost boundary' - he thinks he understands exactly what lies ahead- highlighting the naivety of humankind belief that we can comprehend nature

- the 18th century taught we could understand nature using maps and science but Wordsworth critiques that view showing nature cannot be measured by human logic- it is far greater then that

'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 it's head.'

- the conjunction of 'when' makes the tone shift, it flips the relationship between man and nature

- 'behind' the preposition shows nature has turned on him unexpectedly

- the colour imagery of 'black' shows a dark, Gothic deathly image, nature seems monstrous and evil

- repetition of 'huge' signifies nature's dominance and the speakers fear, he is intimidated

- the hyperbole throughout and 'upreared' shows how natures supremacy is becoming apparent, he is in awe at its ability

- this reinforced the romantic poets view that human kind does not control nature, humans are minuscule compared to nature's roots

'With trembling oars I turned, And through the silent water stole my way Back to the covert of the willow tree;'

- this line shows a cyclical structure, with the return of the speaker , the encounter has irreversibly changed how he views nature

- the personification of 'trembling oars' shows he doesn't want to admit his dread, he is trying to detach himself and save his pride

- 'silent water' is repeated from earlier showing that nature, despite his brutality can offer solitude in times of hardship, it shows the complexity of nature

- the dentives creates a stuttering sound showing his horror and shame

- the enjambment heightens the impression of the speaker being out of breath, maybe because of his fear

'No familiar shapes remained, no pleasant images of trees, of sea or sky, no colours of green fields;'

- the repeated anaphora 'no' shows instead of describing what is there, Wordsworth can only create his mind with what is missing, creating a hollow tone

- the stripping of colours 'no colours' indicates that the vibrant, living world has turned dark in his memory

- Wordsworth intent here is to show that growing up requires a painful shift in perspective - growing past his childish love for nature

'slowly through the mind day by day, and were a trouble to my dreams.'

- 'and' shows there is no escape, his torment is continuous, forming an unbroken cycle of waking and sleeping anxiety

- 'trouble to my dreams' echoes the 'troubled pleasure' earlier on but the 'pleasure' is entirely gone showing how he has lost his innocence through this experience

- the heavy use of consonance slows the reading pace, mimicking heavy thought circling around someone's head- feels like internal suffocating

context

- romantic - nature love, natural world was numinous

- lives in lake district

- no family early on in life- nature becomes companion but becomes domination later on

who wrote it

William Wordsworth

compare poem

storm on the island - destructive and violent side of nature, overwhelming

• both explore the power of nature and its impact on human identity- wordsworth presents nature as a sublime force that transforms personal understanding, while Heaney explores nature’s violent unpredictability and its influence on communal identity

• in both nature humble’s the speaker and forces a re-evaluation of human strength