1. The Prelude – Stealing the boat
Objectives:
To reap on the Romanticism movement and its place in the poem
To explore the poem The Prelude focusing on how Wordsworth has used poetic devices to portray the theme of power and conflict
To use MITSL to develop a response to the poem

2. Write down what you remember about the poem
This extract describes how Wordsworth went out in a boat on a lake at night. He was alone and a mountain peak loomed over him; its presence had a great effect and for days afterwards he was troubled by the experience What do we mean by ‘prelude’? an action or event serving as an introduction to something more important.

3. William Wordsworth
Fact 1: Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet Fact 2: Romantic does not mean love – we are talking imagination, creativity, love of nature, recognition that humans are insignificant in the grander scheme of things Fact 3: The Romantics believed Nature had power over humanity (which it does – we can’t control the forces of nature so we should admire them) Fact 4: Wordsworth’s poems were (as his good friend Coleridge wrote) about ‘profound thought’. Basically, he was pretty intense and put a lot of thought into his poems. Fact 5: for example, the poem you are about to read took him approximately 50 years to complete!
Watch the clip and make notes

4. So…
Nature is powerful and has authority over mankind We should be in awe of the power of nature We should feel overwhelmed by how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things

5. Listen
Whilst listening to the poem, think about the how the idea of romanticism is shown. How does he describe nature? What techniques are really obvious?

6. Looking at the poem In pairs:
Read through the whole poem. This is a story. Can you divide the poem into different sections of a story? Mark them on your poem.
Next, get two highlighters. Highlight in one colour all of the positive words and connotations and then all the negative in another.
Write out the story of the poem in 50 words.

7. Why summer?
Who is the ‘her’ and what connotations does ‘led’ have?
One summer evening (led by her) I found A little Boat tied to a Willow-tree Within a rocky cave, its usual home. Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on, Leaving behind her still, on either side, Small circles glittering idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track Of sparkling light.
Significance?
What do you make of the setting?
Technique used here?
Who or what is guiding him?
Discuss the imagery here
Meaning
Tone
Imagery
Structure
Language

8. What does this suggest about how he is feeling now?
And here? Why the parenthesis?
But now, like one who rows, (Proud of his skill) to reach a chosen point With an unswerving line, I fixed my view Upon the summit of a craggy ridge, The horizon's utmost boundary; far above Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.
Think about the idea of Romanticism – what is he describing here?
Meaning
Tone
Imagery
Structure
Language

9. What is an elfin? Why describe the rock this way?
Who?
Why use this adverb?
She was an elfin Pinnace; lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake, And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat Went heaving through the Water like a swan; 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 its head
Sexual or
Innocent?
Why this simile?
How is the mountain described and why?
Technique? What does it seem like?
Meaning
Tone
Imagery
Structure
Language

10. What is he striking? Why the repetition?
Technique?
Technique?
.—I struck and struck again, And growing still in stature the grim Shape Towered up between me and the stars, and still, For so it seemed, with purpose of its own And measured motion like a living Thing, Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned, And through the silent water stole my way Back to the Covert of the Willow-tree;
Why the capital
letters?
Relentless
Looking back it only seemed like this
How has this changed?
Covert= disguised, under cover
Meaning
Tone
Imagery
Structure
Language
Look for all the alliteration. Why is there so much?

11. Bark=boat
How does he describe his mood and why?
There in her mooring-place I left my Bark,— And through the meadows homeward went, in grave And serious mood; but after I had seen That spectacle, for many days, my brain Worked with a dim and undetermined sense Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts There hung a darkness, call it solitude Or blank desertion.
How does he make it sound and why?
Look for evidence of his well being and state of mind. Why does he feel like this?
Meaning
Tone
Imagery
Structure
Language

12. how can this be described as a journey?
Why have these thoughts gone?
No familiar Shapes Remained, no pleasant images of trees, Of sea or Sky, no colours of green fields; But huge and mighty Forms, that do not live Like living men, moved slowly through the mind By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.
What does he realise about Nature?
How does the poem end? What sort of tone/mood is the reader left with?
Meaning
Tone
Imagery
Structure
Language

13. Key themes in the poem
Nature: humanity is part of nature and sometimes we can be made to feel very small and insignificant by the natural world.
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.
The night: the poem seems to suggest that you can sometimes experience feelings and events more clearly at night, perhaps due to loneliness.

14. Quick comparisons
Think, pair, share 3 poems that you could connect with the Prelude. Be ready to justify in THREE minutes

15. Getting some thoughts to paper
In about 100 words, explain the thoughts and feelings of the writer and how they change throughout the poem. At the beginning of the poem the boy feels… As he begins to row, he… As he rows further, he notices… He returns home feeling… For sometime after that he… To conclude, we can see that his feelings change from…

17. Get students to work on MITSL on their own today.

18. Compare the ways poets present power in ‘The Prelude’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’
The Prelude
Meaning (title)
Imagery
Tone
Structure
Language

19. Compare the ways poets presents power in ‘The Prelude’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’

20. 30 min response
Using your information from your table or venn diagram write a response to the question: Compare the ways poets presents power in ‘The Prelude’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’

21. Success criteria Is there:
An introduction which includes both poems outlining their meaning and their titles?
A section on imagery which compares both poems in relation to power using quotes?
A section on tone which compares both poems in relation to power using quotes?
A section on structure which compares both poems in relation to power using quotes?
A section on language which compares both poems in relation to power using quotes?