This material is amalgamated with the poets adult views of philosophy and art those views held during the writing and endless revision of the prelude, roughly from 1799 until 1850. O there is blessing in this gentle breeze, a visitant that while it fans my cheek. Wordsworths poetry itself often wanders, roaming from one subject or experience to another, as in the prelude. The start of book 1 finds wordsworth speaking from a mature point of view. That 1805 version encompassed books and was highlighted by. Books 17 offer a halfliteral, halffanciful description of his boyhood and youthful environment. The first book of the prelude is an exciting and passionate introduction to the person wordsworth became.
Poems of william wordsworth selected the prelude, book 1. William wordsworth 17701850 began writing his autobiographical blank verse epic in 1798, working on it intermittently until 1839. The poem falls rather naturally into three consecutive sections. Poems of william wordsworth selected the prelude book 1. At the beginning of book 1, wordsworth is walking in the countryside of the. The thirteenth book outlines wordsworths poetic philosophy that poetry comes from. From book 1 of william wordsworth s the prelude william wordsworth s great long autobiographical poem in blank verse, the prelude, has many great passages, and this is one of the best, from the first book of the poem, describing the poets schooldays and his time among nature. In every cry of every man, in every infants cry of fear, in every voice. Course hero literature instructor russell jaffe provides an indepth summary and analysis of william wordsworths poem the prelude, book 1. Many passages can tolerate two or more readings and afford new meaning at each reading. Childhood and schooltime by william wordsworth about this poet william wordsworth was one of the founders of english romanticism and one its most central figures and important intellects. The prelude begun in 1799 and was completed in 1805, but was published a year after the poets death in 1850. In this long poem, the speaker moves from idea to idea through digressions and distractions that mimic the natural progression of thought within the mind. The prelude affords one of the best approaches to wordsworth s poetry in general and to the philosophy of nature it contains.
In book fourteenth of the prelude, climbing to the top of a mountain in wales allows the speaker to have a prophetic vision of the workings of the mind as it thinks. This lesson will explore wordsworths the prelude, which is one of wordsworths most influential and cited poems. The body of the poem employs flashbacks to describe the development of the poetic mind during youth. In fact, william wordsworth never titled his work the prelude and died.
At the beginning of book 1, wordsworth is walking in the countryside of the lake district, relieved to. Many critics rank it as wordsworth s greatest work. This introspective account of his own development was completed in 1805 and, after substantial revision, published posthumously in 1850. I wander thro each charterd street, near where the charterd thames does flow. The prelude is an autobiographical poem but it is not only the poets personal confessions. Writing at the midpoint of his life and remembering events of his early childhood and schoolboy years clearly gives him pleasure and vindication for the themes he chooses to pursue. To summarize the content of the volume is to recount wordsworth s biography mixed with existential rumination on his identity as a poet. Wordsworth s prelude explores his childhood thoughts and the ways in which he has changed and grown over time. The prelude begins with an account of the poets childhood in the english lake country. However, the apparent simplicity of the poem is deceptive. He is remembered as a poet of spiritual and epistemological speculation, a poet concerned with the human relationship to nature and. Complete summary of william wordsworths the prelude. Book 1 begins with a discussion of life in the country in.