the prelude - stealing the boat

Subject

Summer evening, narrator takes a boat, takes it out on the lake; narrator seems happy and confident; met with mountain, afraid of its size/power; view of nature has changed

Tone

Wistful, nostalgic, anecdotal, fearful, traumatic, anxious

Context

Wordsworth — Romantic movement, influence of nature; religious notions — transcendentalism (nature goes beyond); autobiographical — childhood in Lake District

"My boat went heaving through the water like a swan"

Simile — evokes serenity (swan) and elegance, suggests harmony between man and nature; Dynamic verb — "heaving", restless energy beneath the surface; Rupture of speaker's perceived dominance over the natural world

"A huge peak, black and huge / upreared its head"

Rhetorical repetition (huge) — emphasises speaker's inarticulacy and awe; Overwhelmed — captures sublime primal presence of the mountain; Personification — (upreared head) animates peak with a predatory presence; Spectacle and an oppressive force

"Like living men, moved slowly through the mind"

Alliteration (l) in "like living" — soft echoic rhythm, mirrors lingering psychological presence; Memory clings to speaker's consciousness; Consonance — "m" in "men" "moved", deep resonant force, slow weighty movement; Mental burden and permanence of trauma

Form/Structure

Epic poem — hero's journey, human growth; Blank verse — iambic pentameter, natural speech, organic and flow of memory; Dramatic monologue — introspective, self-perception