ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The Prelude is a semi-autobiographical poem written by William Wordsworth in 1805. It is written in blank verse and details the literal journeys a man has to take in life illustrating the crossing of the Alps or the climatic ascent of Snowden which metaphorically also implies the spiritual journey.

Detailed explanation-2: -The subtitle of The Prelude is ‘Growth of a Poet’s Mind’. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) began writing his autobiographical blank verse epic in 1798, working on it intermittently until 1839. It was published posthumously in 1850.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Prelude takes its unity from the fact that the central “hero” is its author. The poem is written in blank verse, unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter with certain permissible substitutions of trochees and anapests to relieve the monotony of the iambic foot and with total disregard for the stanza form.

Detailed explanation-4: -Summary of The Prelude Wordsworth mentions to the reader that he has three purposes in writing this poem: to trace his own development as a poet, to honor Coleridge, and to compose an introduction to another poem he planned to write, called The Recluse.

Detailed explanation-5: -’The Prelude (Extract)’ by William Wordsworth is a first-person account of the speaker, Wordsworth, sailing a small boat and musing on life and nature. In the first part of this poem, the speaker begins by recalling how he came upon a boat tied to a tree along the water.