The Prelude: Stealing The Boat (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Each poetry anthology in the GCSE contains 15 poems, and in the poetry question in the exam you will be given one poem on the paper - printed in full - and asked to compare this given poem to one other from the anthology. As this is a “closed book” exam, you will not have access to the other poems, so you will have to know them very well from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to learn. However, understanding four things about each poem will enable you to produce a top-mark response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages the poet wanted to convey
• How the poet conveys these ideas and messages through their methods
• How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas and themes of other poems in the anthology

Below is a guide to William Wordsworth’s Extract from The Prelude (also known as “Boat Stealing”), from the Power and Conflict anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is essential that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Wordsworth’s intention and message

The Prelude in a nutshell

The Prelude is different to the other poems in the anthology as it is actually an extract taken from a much longer, autobiographical epic poem by William Wordsworth. The speaker in the poem remembers a night when he, as a young boy, steals a boat and rows out to the middle of a lake. At first this was exciting, but then the boy becomes scared of a huge mountain and rows back to shore. The image of the mountain troubles him for days. The overall idea is that Wordsworth is confident when he takes the boat out to the lake, but he changes when faced with the vast and imposing mountain, as it reminds him of the fragility of human life when compared to the lasting and absolute power of nature. The central theme in the poem, therefore, is the power of nature and self-realisation of the speaker’s own insignificance compared to nature

The Prelude breakdown

Lines 1-16

“One summer evening (led by her) I found

A little boat tied to a willow tree

Within a rocky cove, 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. 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.”

Translation

• The speaker is guided by nature one summer’s night to a rocky bay in which there is a boat tied to a willow tree
• The speaker unties the boat and gets in, stealing it
• He knows that he shouldn’t steal the boat, but it also brings him pleasure
• Mountain echoes, like voices, accompany the movement of the boat
• The oars leave circular ripples in the water that glitter in the moonlight, and merge into one in the wake of the boat
• The speaker feels proud of his rowing skills as he fixes his gaze on a jagged mountain peak in order to row in a straight line
• It is the farthest point on the horizon; above it there are only stars and sky

Wordsworth’s intention

• The poet refers to “her” which can be interpreted as Mother Nature
• Nature can be seen as female in that it is responsible for the feminine task of creating, sustaining and nurturing life
• By personifying nature, Wordsworth is contrasting the role of nature to the role of a human
• Nature nurtures an entire planet, thus demonstrating its superior power 
• It is clear that, at the beginning of the poem, the speaker has a peaceful view of, and relationship with, nature
• The poet paints a tranquil and beautiful picture of nature and a boy’s ability to engage with it

Lines 17-20

“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;”

Translation

• The speaker describes his small boat as an “elfin pinnace”, like an elf’s boat
• Even though the boat is small, the boy enthusiastically rows and controls his boat to cut through the water “like a swan”

Wordsworth’s intention

• These lines reveal that the boy believes in his ability to control nature
• However, this is deception:
• Nature is guiding him, so ultimately has control of the boy’s direction

Lines 21-31

“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. 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;”

Translation

• From behind the jagged peak on the horizon, an even bigger mountain appears, black and giant
• This mountain seems to lift its head as though it were a living being
• As the speaker rows, the mountain gets bigger and bigger, blocking out the stars
• It seems to be alive and pursuing the speaker, who is trembling so much with fright his oars shake as well
• The speaker turns the boat round and rows back to the safety of the willow tree

Wordsworth’s intention

• The poet hides the mountain like a beast hiding and waiting to pounce
• The true power of nature is now revealed
• Nature was working with the speaker at first, but now has turned against him
• Wordsworth personifies the mountain as a beast with a “purpose of its own” 
• This changes the encounter with nature from peaceful to suddenly something to be feared
• The poet is revealing that nature is not always humankind’s friend
• It can be mysterious and dangerous
• Nature is powerful:
• It can be beautiful and can be enjoyed, but we should treat it with respect as it can also be something to fear

Lines 32-44

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. 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.”

Translation

• The speaker ties the boat back up, and walks home in a serious mood
• After this experience, the speaker is troubled by thoughts of what “unknown modes of being” there are in the world; things he knows nothing about
• His thoughts are clouded by a kind of darkness, like being alone or abandoned
• He can no longer picture the beauty of nature
• Now he can only picture giant, powerful shapes which move slowly through his mind during the day, and give him nightmares when he sleeps

Wordsworth’s intention

• These lines reveal the effect the experience has on the speaker
• He becomes aware that he is not in control of nature
• Indeed, there are natural things in the world that he has little knowledge of
• This reinforces the message that nature is something to be feared as well as enjoyed
• This also symbolises a turning point for the boy, as he passes from the innocent days of childhood to the reality of adulthood
• He no longer feels safe, as he is now aware that he could encounter danger at every turn 
• This can be interpreted to symbolise the transition from childhood to adulthood, as the speaker is never able to see the world through a child’s eyes again

Although this section is organised into three separate sections - form, structure and language - it is important to take an integrated approach to AO2, focusing on the main themes of the poem and then evaluating how Wordsworth’s choices of language, structure and form contribute to these themes. In essence, how and why the poet has made the choices they have, in relation to their intentions and message.

Focusing on the poet’s main themes, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. In the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Wordsworth’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

It is important to remember that this is a narrative poem that forms part of a much longer poem, but it has no traditional form. It has no stanzas, which reminds the reader that this is a single, contained incident within a much longer, autobiographical work. However, there are some comments you can make on why Wordsworth may have used blank verse and iambic pentameter in the context of the development of his own imagination and spiritual growth in response to his experience with the power of nature.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Experience of the power of nature	Wordsworth uses blank verse written in iambic pentameter	This means the lines do not follow a specific rhyme scheme, but they are structured with iambic pentameter
		The poet wanted to describe the development of his own imagination and spiritual growth through his experience of the power of nature
		Iambic pentameter reflects the form of natural speech, further reinforcing the idea of self-reflection and the poet’s inner monologue

Structure

Although Wordsworth has structured the poem as a single stanza, to emphasise the overwhelming power of nature, the mood of the poem changes as it progresses to reflect the change that the speaker experiences in himself

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Power of nature	The poem is written as a single stanza with no breaks or pauses	The poet may have intended the reader to feel breathless and overwhelmed by the intensity of the poem
		This reflects how Wordsworth was overwhelmed by the immensity of the mountain and the power of nature
		Wordsworth was also heavily influenced by Milton's Paradise Lost, which is an epic poem written with lengthy stanzas. It is about the biblical fall of man
		Wordsworth’s epic poem contemplates the fall of man in comparison to nature, and the important transition from childhood into adulthood
Inner conflict and change	Wordsworth uses a cyclical structure, as it begins and ends with the mooring of the boat	This emphasises the change that takes place during the journey
		However, because the poem starts and finishes at the same place, the change is internal and psychological, rather than external and physical
	The poet also employs enjambment in the poem, for example in the lines “my boat/Went heaving through the water like a swan”	This makes the poem feel like a stream of consciousness, as the speaker tries to convey the importance of his experience
		The poem follows its speaker’s wandering thoughts and experiences

Language

Wordsworth further explores his spiritual journey when confronted with the power of nature and its supremacy through his use of language devices, and the conflict between childhood and adulthood

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Power and supremacy of nature	Wordsworth uses the motif of rowing to demonstrate the transformation the speaker goes through	At the start, the narrator is at one with nature, as his oar strokes “melted all into one track”, showing just how easily he is able to move through the water
		His rowing becomes more difficult after seeing the mountain, as he starts “heaving through the water” - the speaker’s feeling of control is broken as nature’s supremacy becomes apparent
		The initial calm and relaxed rowing is contrasted with the frantic rowing back to shore, demonstrated through the repetition of "struck"
		The use of this motif contrasts how the speaker was before and after his encounter with the power of nature
	Wordsworth also uses  personification to describe nature, such as when he opens the poem with reference to being “led by her”	This alludes to the idea of Mother Nature and nature being seen as female, as it is responsible for the feminine task of creating, sustaining and nurturing life
		The poet is able to contrast the role of a human mother, nurturing just her own children, with Mother Nature who nurtures an entire planet, thus demonstrating its superior power
		The fact that the speaker is “led” by nature also reinforces its power, as the speaker is not in control of his actions
		Nature can also be seen to be teaching Wordsworth new lessons
	Female personification continues when referring to the boat as “she” and “her”	This implies a connection between nature and the boat, hinting that it adds to nature’s beauty creating “one track/Of sparkling light”
	The poet uses the imagery of the mountain as a living thing, as it “Upreared its head” and “strode after me”	It is as though nature is pursuing the speaker with strength and determination, again demonstrating the power of the mountain
	The poet employs the use of similes, for example through the phrases “like a swan”, “like a living thing” and “like one who rows”, to try to help his readers understand his experience	The poet wants to share his knowledge of nature’s power, and the universality of his experience. It can happen to anyone
		This is reinforced by the fact that, as the poem progresses, the language used becomes less sophisticated as the speaker becomes overwhelmed by the mountain and the power of nature
Conflict between childhood and adulthood	The poet uses magical and mythical references and imagery to demonstrate the magic and mysticism of childhood	He calls the small boat "elfin" and describes the small circles “glittering idly in the moon,” and as one track “Of sparkling light”
		These magical and mythical references fade as the poem progresses, with the language becoming more blunt, such as the huge peak being described as “black and huge”
		This symbolises the transition from the magic and innocence of childhood to the reality and dangers of adulthood

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, context is not random historical facts about William Wordsworth or the time in which the poem was written that are unrelated to the ideas in the poem. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Wordsworth in this section of The Prelude which relate to power. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Wordsworth explores:

• The Power of Nature
• Personal transformation

The Power of Nature

• As the poem as a whole is autobiographical, the speaker can be assumed to be a fictionalised version of Wordsworth himself
  • This means the poem reveals personal details of his life
  • This is emphasised by the use of first person narration and the past tense, suggesting the speaker is recalling events which are very clear to him
• Wordsworth grew up in the Lake District, where he spent much time outside in order to escape his difficult childhood
• Wordsworth was also a Romantic poet, meaning that he was in favour of resisting the growth in industry by remembering a simpler, more natural past
  • Romantic poets were interested in the power of nature, humanity and emotion
  • They were generally opposed to the industrialisation and scientific progress sweeping through Europe at the time
• Romantic poets tended to use everyday language to make their poems accessible to all, and to present themes that challenged people’s preconceptions
  • This can be seen in Wordsworth’s use of similes and repetition, such as the repetition of “huge” to emphasise the ultimate power of nature over humanity
  • He is suggesting that mankind’s belief that it can control nature, or be at one with it, is false
• Romantic poets generally disliked attempts to impose power on people or things against their will, such as humanity’s pride in attempting to impose order or control on to nature

• By setting the poem in his childhood home of the Lake District, Wordsworth injects a tone of realism to the poem
• The fact that the speaker goes on an adventure in the poem relates metaphorically to the inner journey the speaker experiences
• Wordsworth viewed The Prelude as an adaptation of the techniques Milton developed in Paradise Lost
  • But whereas Paradise Lost tells the story of the fall of Satan and Adam and Eve, Wordsworth chose his own life as a subject, turning the story inwards to capture his thoughts and impressions
  • The poem therefore recounts his spiritual development from a youth to an adult
• The poem explores the importance of childhood and what a magical experience it can be
  • This is something Wordsworth feels is lost, to an extent, as one ages

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about power, or conflict, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that The Prelude’s main themes are that of the power and supremacy of nature, and humankind’s efforts to control it are futile, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• The Prelude and Storm on the Island
• The Prelude and Ozymandias

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

The Prelude and Storm on the Island

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Heaney’s Storm on the Island and the extract from The Prelude explore the power of nature and the conflict between humanity and the natural world we inhabit

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems explore mankind’s real and symbolic conflict when faced with the vast power of nature, which ultimately always wins
Evidence and analysis	The Prelude	Storm on the Island
	Wordsworth uses violent language, such as “struck and struck again” to reflect the speaker’s darkening mood when confronted with the reality of nature	Heaney also uses military metaphors  of “bombarded”, “blast”, "salvo” and "strafe” which all relate to human air attacks, reminding the reader of the limited power of man-made machines when compared with all-powerful nature
	The mountain is used by Wordsworth as a metaphor for the full might of nature. The repetition of “huge” emphasises its overwhelming quality	The power of nature is expressed as a storm, which in the end is a “huge nothing that we fear”
	Both poems show that nature is something to be feared
	The Prelude shows that nature is something to be feared because we offend nature by attempting to manipulate it	Heaney suggests we fear nature because we underestimate the violence of nature and its effect on us
	In The Prelude, the speaker realises their own insignificance via their spiritual development	In Storm on the Island, the islanders realise their ultimate inability to control the storm, and it will always come again
	Both poems illustrate how powerful nature is and that humans mean very little in comparison

Differences:

Topic sentence	The conflict with nature is shown differently in each poem, as in Storm on the Island it is physical, whereas in The Prelude it is psychological
Evidence and analysis	The Prelude	Storm on the Island
	In Wordsworth’s poem, nature is inciting fear and redefining the speaker’s view of the world	In Heaney’s poem, the islanders are being physically attacked by the storm
	The Prelude is written as a past-tense memoir giving the impression of a seemingly idyllic “summer evening”	Heaney writes in the present tense, giving the impression that the storm is happening right now and the islanders are prepared to deal with the urgency of events
	The Prelude shows the power of nature in a more subtle and slower way	Storm on the Island illustrates the power of nature in an obviously harsh way
	Although there is violent and harsh language in both poems, The Prelude is more romantic and magical, whereas Storm on the Island uses more explosive language

The Prelude and Ozymandias

Both Shelley’s Ozymandias and Wordsworth’s The Prelude highlight the overwhelming power of nature, and humankind’s inability to impact forces beyond its control

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems, written by Romantic poets, display nature as ultimately more powerful than mankind
Evidence and analysis	The Prelude	Ozymandias
	In The Prelude, humankind’s inability to overpower and control a force beyond its control is displayed	In Ozymandias, human power is shown as intrinsically weak and transient, lost to time and nature
	In this poem, nature is shown to be a separate entity, which is more powerful than man	Similarly, nature’s destructive force is demonstrated through the broken nature of the statue
	The theme of pride is key in both, it being the cause of the subjects’ eventual fall
	In The Prelude, the speaker believes he is at one with nature, and part of it, until the overwhelming power of nature is revealed	In Ozymandias, the king believes his power and legacy will outlive nature, when in fact the opposite is true

Differences:

Topic sentence	While both poets explore how pride is unfounded because human power is inferior to the power of nature, they present this in different ways
Evidence and analysis	The Prelude	Ozymandias
	In The Prelude, the overwhelming power of nature leads to the speaker’s loss of eloquence and how he becomes unable to define his world	In Ozymandias, the power of nature is conveyed through the symbolism of the desert and time
	The Prelude is written as a first person narrative, and focuses on a personal revelation of the inferiority of humankind when faced with nature, as symbolised by the mountain	In Ozymandias, we learn of the ruler’s pride and fall via a recounted story, and via the imagery of the broken statue surrounded by the desert
	So Wordsworth’s loss of power is in the way he interprets nature and how he has to re-think his own place on earth	Shelley finds the futility of human power in comparison to the superior power of nature via a once-powerful symbol that has become a faded memory
	The Prelude is written in blank verse, reflecting the natural, free-flowing exploration of Wordsworth’s relationship with nature	Ozymandias is in the form of a sonnet, written as an ironic love poem to the king
	Although both poems share similarities in the way power is presented to the reader, they contrast in the way that each of its subjects experience a decline in power