by Matthew Blackmon

Created on: October 22, 2009

William Wordsworth brings to life a past experience of an unfamiliar aspect of the natural world in his autobiographical poem The Prelude . He presents his experience with a wonder and a terror. Through imagery, diction, and tone, William presents a life lasting experience.

William, while being "led by her [nature] (1)," finds a boat tied to a willow tree which he gets into as an "act of stealth" (5). As he travels thought the water by row his boat, he saw a "craggy ridge," which refers to his eagerness now that he has undertaken the journey by way of connotation. "Lustily" (17) he dips his oars into the water. The word choice of "lustily" indicates his desire for adventure. He departs describing with a simile "like a swan." Then suddenly he sees something that "as if with voluntary power instinct up reared its head" and "for it seemed, with a purpose of its own" that William began to have second thoughts about his trip. With "trembling oars (29)" he turned back with the word trembling giving clue to his frightened awareness of the sight he saw. Afterward he looked back on the scene with "grave and serious mood (34)" It is clear that William is troubled by this spectacle since he described his thoughts as a "darkness, call it solitude/ or blank desertion" (38-39) concerning the event.

William begins the trip with a daring air of certainty stating that the boat was "within a rocky cave, its usual home (3)." Yet as he continues on his nature led journey he is overcome by less certainty and more uneasiness. His tone revealed by his diction changes gradually in steps. He was being led by nature, which is a glorified way of saying that he was wondering around. Then he sees a boat by a tree and decides to get into the boat. He dips his oars into the "silent lake" (18) with the choice of silent serving as an indication for ominous events. From here the line between daring spirits and its antithesis finds a boundary. With the foreshadowing provided by line 18 William can either keep up his spirits in the upcoming events or lose them to run back home. Then he sees "a huge peak, black and huge" and it is here that William must make a decision, and his decision is clear: turn around and leave quickly. At this point, the tone is terror for William with the following diction to support this "huge" "black" "grim" "trembling" and "stole."

This poem utilizes imagery, tone, and diction to presents a life story of a young man who paddles a small boat to be giventhe sight of a lifetime. Imagery painted the scene to allow the audience to feel the daring or terror of William for themselves. Diction served to support tone, and tone reflected the manner in which William reacted to his situation. In several ways this poem calls the audience to examine for themselves the unusual sights of nature and to either see the potential in nature. William took a chance, but he found himself not ready for what happened. The poem concludes with him reflecting back on this situation with a new line of sight since he no longer see "pleasant images of trees,/of sea or sky, no colours of green fields" and this is replaced with a grimmer image of huge and mighty forms that do not live and bother his mindset.

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