The Prelude by William Wordsworth

First published: 1850

Type of work: Poetry

The Work

The Prelude, which was not published until shortly after William Wordsworth’s death in 1850, was planned as the introductory section of a long autobiographical and philosophical poem that was never finished, titled The Recluse. In that ambitious work, Wordsworth intended to trace in blank verse the development of his views on humanity, society, and nature. Of the projected three parts, only the second, The Excursion (1814), written between 1799 and 1805, was completed and published. The important “Friend” to whom the poem is addressed is Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Wordsworth strongly advocated the use of poetry for the expression of individual emotions and insights. The Prelude contains many fine passages that illustrate the clarity and force of his use of language to provide both a precise description of nature and a grasp of its meaning. Although the poem contains long prosaic stretches, it also conveys a sense of the calm beauty and power of nature that distinguishes Wordsworth’s verse.

The work begins with an account of the poet’s childhood in the English Lake District. With many digressions addressed to nature and its power, wisdom, and infusing spirit, the poet describes the influence of nature on his solitary childhood. Some of the sense of awe and pleasure that he found in nature, as well as some of his clearest and most penetrating uses of diction, is evident in the passage in which he describes how he found a boat in a cave, unchained the boat, and rowed out into the center of a lake:

LustilyI dipped my oars into the silent lake,And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boatWent heaving through the water like a swan;When, from behind that craggy steep till thenThe horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge,As if with voluntary power instinctUpreared its head. I struck and struck again,And growing still in stature the grim shapeTowered up between me and the stars, and still,For so it seemed, with purpose of its ownAnd measured motion like a living thing,Strode after me. (Book First, 373–385)

The image of the peak is invested with such simplicity and power that it is transformed into a force conveying both terror and beauty to the guilty boy who has stolen a ride in a boat.

The poet speaks of his youthful love of freedom and liberty, which he enjoyed in rambles through the woods and on mountain paths where he did not feel fettered by the claims of society and schoolwork. He makes sure to reassure the reader, however, that he was outwardly docile and obedient, keeping his rebellion and sense of freedom in the realm of the spirit. This combination of outward calm and inward rebellion helps explain Wordsworth’s ability to control highly individualistic thought in calm, dignified, unostentatious verse forms and diction. Wordsworth does not use the speech of the common people; indeed, his speech is often abstract, speculative, and pervaded with a sense of the mystery and meaning of nature. At its best, however, Wordsworth’s diction has a dignity and calm control, a lack of pretense, through which the force of his inner meaning gently radiates.

Wordsworth describes his journey through Cambridge, telling of experiences there and discussing the fact that he neither was nor cared to be a scholar. Despite his studies, he continued to concentrate inwardly on the spirit of things, the power of nature, and the impetus nature gave to his feelings. At this point, Wordsworth begins to speculate on the differences between reason and emotion or passion, equating reason with scholars and emotion with his own apprehension of the world of nature:

But all the meditations of mankind,Yea, all the adamantine holds of truthBy reason built, or passion, which itselfIs highest reason in a soul sublime. (Book Fifth, 38–41)

Throughout the poem, Wordsworth makes the distinction between reason and passion, and he attributes an ultimate sterility to the quality of reason while glorifying the element of passion or imagination.

Wordsworth tells of traveling to the Alps after leaving Cambridge. The mountains there reminded him of the mountains familiar to him from his childhood, and he felt again and even more keenly that the majesty and awe of the scenery found reflection in his spirit. He begins, more strongly, to feel his kinship with nature and juxtaposes that with a description of his life among the crowds and industries of London after his return from Europe. He describes how, dissatisfied with life in London, he traveled to France during the early stages of the French Revolution. In this section he expresses his feeling that he has not cared for human beings sufficiently—in his devotion to nature, he has neglected his feeling for his fellow creatures. Recalling his early love for freedom and liberty and adding his new conviction of the importance of political liberty, Wordsworth became strongly attracted to the cause of the French Revolution, feeling, as he says in The Prelude, that he was tied emotionally and spiritually to the popular struggle against the monarchy. He became disillusioned, however, by the bloodiness of the war and by the popular ingratitude and refusal to acknowledge the heroes who championed the Revolution’s cause with the greatest fervor and sincerity. He began to feel that blood had poisoned the cause of liberty in France, and he returned to England.

Disillusioned and alone, he sought to bring meaning back into his life. The penultimate section of The Prelude is titled “Imagination and Taste, How Impaired and Restored.” At that period of his life he turned back to nature, finding there not solace alone but a sense of law and order lacking in human society. He began to realize the difference in scale between nature and people and the range and effect of nature in comparison to the tiny ineffectuality of human beings. Sections of resolution in the poem frequently include passages such as the following interpolation in the midst of a narrative section:

O Soul of Nature! that, by laws divineSustained and governed, still dost overflowWith an impassioned life, what feeble onesWalk on this earth! (Book Twelfth, 102–104)

In Wordsworth’s view, nature provides not only awe and spiritual impetus for human beings but also order, rules of conduct, and the means of molding human behavior. In the final sections of the poem, he uses nature as the authority for his new morality and assumes a much more overtly moral tone. He didactically advocates the importance of faith and obedience and of not relying on unaided human reason. Whereas in the poem’s earlier sections he praises emotion and freedom in opposition to rational restraint, here the poet praises the restraint of faith and spirit in opposition to rational license. This change is illustrative of a change in Wordsworth’s career, from the poet advocating the simple joy and freedom of nature to the sage defending abstract and conventional truths. His attitude becomes clear in the following passage from the conclusion of the poem:

But, the dawn beginning nowTo re-appear, ’twas proved that not in vainI had been taught to reverence a PowerThat is the visible quality and shapeAnd image of right reason; that maturesHer processes by steadfast laws; gives birthTo no impatient or fallacious hopes,No heat of passion or excessive zeal,No vain conceits; provokes to no quick turnsOf self-applauding intellect; but trainsTo meekness, and exalts by humble faith. (Book Thirteenth, 18–28)

The Prelude documents Wordsworth’s changing attitudes toward nature and human beings while at the same time reflecting the different characteristics of his diction and poetic power. No other single poem expresses his reverence for nature with such power and simplicity. The Prelude is truly a monument to Wordsworth’s career, his evolving ideas, and his transforming use of poetry.

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