Analysis of The Prelude, Book 1: Childhood and School-time
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
--Was it for this
That one, the fairest of all Rivers, lov'd
To blend his murmurs with my Nurse's song,
And from his alder shades and rocky falls,
And from his fords and shallows, sent a voice
That flow'd along my dreams? For this, didst Thou,
O Derwent! travelling over the green Plains
Near my 'sweet Birthplace', didst thou, beauteous Stream
Make ceaseless music through the night and day
Which with its steady cadence, tempering
Our human waywardness, compos'd my thoughts
To more than infant softness, giving me,
Among the fretful dwellings of mankind,
A knowledge, a dim earnest, of the calm
That Nature breathes among the hills and groves.
When, having left his Mountains, to the Towers
Of Cockermouth that beauteous River came,
Behind my Father's House he pass'd, close by,
Along the margin of our Terrace Walk.
He was a Playmate whom we dearly lov'd.
Oh! many a time have I, a five years' Child,
A naked Boy, in one delightful Rill,
A little Mill-race sever'd from his stream,
Made one long bathing of a summer's day,
Bask'd in the sun, and plunged, and bask'd again
Alternate all a summer's day, or cours'd
Over the sandy fields, leaping through groves
Of yellow grunsel, or when crag and hill,
The woods, and distant Skiddaw's lofty height,
Were bronz'd with a deep radiance, stood alone
Beneath the sky, as if I had been born
On Indian Plains, and from my Mother's hut
Had run abroad in wantonness, to sport,
A naked Savage, in the thunder shower.
Fair seed-time had my soul, and I grew up
Foster'd alike by beauty and by fear;
Much favour'd in my birthplace, and no less
In that beloved Vale to which, erelong,
I was transplanted. Well I call to mind
('Twas at an early age, ere I had seen
Nine summers) when upon the mountain slope
The frost and breath of frosty wind had snapp'd
The last autumnal crocus, 'twas my joy
To wander half the night among the Cliffs
And the smooth Hollows, where the woodcocks ran
Along the open turf. In thought and wish
That time, my shoulder all with springes hung,
I was a fell destroyer. On the heights
Scudding away from snare to snare, I plied
My anxious visitation, hurrying on,
Still hurrying, hurrying onward; moon and stars
Were shining o'er my head; I was alone,
And seem'd to be a trouble to the peace
That was among them. Sometimes it befel
In these night-wanderings, that a strong desire
O'erpower'd my better reason, and the bird
Which was the captive of another's toils
Became my prey; and, when the deed was done
I heard among the solitary hills
Low breathings coming after me, and sounds
Of undistinguishable motion, steps
Almost as silent as the turf they trod.
Nor less in springtime when on southern banks
The shining sun had from his knot of leaves
Decoy'd the primrose flower, and when the Vales
And woods were warm, was I a plunderer then
In the high places, on the lonesome peaks
Where'er, among the mountains and the winds,
The Mother Bird had built her lodge. Though mean
My object, and inglorious, yet the end
Was not ignoble. Oh! when I have hung
Above the raven's nest, by knots of grass
And half-inch fissures in the slippery rock
But ill sustain'd, and almost, as it seem'd,
Suspended by the blast which blew amain,
Shouldering the naked crag; Oh! at that time,
While on the perilous ridge I hung alone,
With what strange utterance did the loud dry wind
Blow through my ears! the sky seem'd not a sky
Of earth, and with what motion mov'd the clouds!
The mind of Man is fram'd even like the breath
And harmony of music. There is a dark
Invisible workmanship that reconciles
Discordant elements, and makes them move
In one society. Ah me! that all
The terrors, all the early miseries
Regrets, vexations, lassitudes, that all
The thoughts and feelings which have been infus'd
Into my mind, should ever have made up
The calm existence that is mine when I
Am worthy of myself! Praise to the end!
Thanks likewise for the means! But I believe
That Nature, oftentimes, when she would frame
A favor'd Being, from his earliest dawn
Of infancy doth open out the clouds,
As at the touch of lightning, seeking him
With gentlest visitation; not the less,
Though haply aiming at the self-same end,
Does it delight her sometimes to employ
Severer interventions, ministry
More palpable, and so she deal
Scheme | XABXXXXCDXXEFXGXHIXAXJCDKAGJXLXXXM NXOBFPXXQXXXRXXXXLXJMXXXXXXXXXXKXXPSRXXXKXLFIT XXXXUXUXNISXHXTXOSQEX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 1101011101 1111011101 0111010101 011101101 1101111111 1110010011 11111111 1101010101 1111010100 101010111 1111010101 0101010111 0100110101 1101010101 11011101010 1111101 0111011111 01010110101 110111101 11001110111 0101010101 0101110111 1111010101 1001010101 1001010111 1001011011 110111101 010101101 01101100101 0101111111 11001011101 11010111 01010001010 1111110111 1001110011 11011011 01011111 1101011111 1111011111 1101010101 0101110111 0101010111 1101010101 001101011 0101010101 111101111 1101010101 101111111 1100101001 110010010101 01010111101 0111010101 110110111 011100101010 111010001 1101010101 0111010111 110101001 111010101 11101 111010111 110111101 0101111111 101100101 010111011 0011010101 1001010001 0101110111 11000100101 1101011111 010111111 01110001001 110101111 010101111 10001011111 11010011101 11110010111 1111011101 1101110101 01111110101 01001101101 010010110 0101000111 0101001111 0101010100 011111 0101011101 0111110111 0101011111 110111101 111011101 110101111 01010111001 1100110101 1101110101 1100010101 111010111 1101001101 10010100 11000111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,376 |
Words | 757 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 34, 46, 21 |
Lines Amount | 101 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 252 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 08, 2023
- 3:57 min read
- 270 Views
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"The Prelude, Book 1: Childhood and School-time" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42372/the-prelude%2C-book-1%3A-childhood-and-school-time>.
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