The Prelude

​From The Prelude - William Woodsworth

By Salsabil Shaar Grade 12 English

Objectives

All: Annotate unknown words and phrases in a poem

Some: Identify sensory language in a poem

Few: Describe how sensory language influences tone and mood

This poem was written in 1798, during Wordsworth’s second visit to the valley of the River Wye and the ruins of Tintern Abbey, once a great medieval building in Wales.
Wordsworth had passed through the region alone five years earlier. This time he brought his sister along to share the experience

from The Prelude In 1790, Wordsworth witnessed the early, optimistic days of the French Revolution. The country seemed on the verge of achieving progress from outdated, oppressive institutions.
Wordsworth felt he was seeing “France standing on the top of golden hours.” The war between England and France (declared in 1793) and the turn taken by the French Revolution, known as the Reign of Terror (1793–1794), dashed Wordsworth’s hopes.

Warm -Up

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"O pleasant exercise of hope and joy!"

These are lines from the Prelude , a poem you will be exploring today

Turn this exclamatory sentence into a question then into a statement
Practice, with a partner saying it out loud as a statement, as a question, then as an exclamatory sentence.

What difference do you notice in tone when stated as a statement?

Refresher: Romantiscism Era

• Romantic literature strongly uses sensory language

• Writers wanted to evoke emotions and imagination

• Focus on nature, beauty, and individual experience

• Sight: vivid landscapes, sunsets, storms

• Sound: rushing rivers, birdsong, whispers of wind

• Touch: softness of flowers, roughness of rocks

• Taste/Smell: honey, fresh air, fragrance of blossoms

• Helps readers feel connected to nature and human emotion

• Creates a deep, emotional response rather than just facts

Practice

O pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood Upon our side, us who were strong in love! Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was the highest joy!
O times, In which the meager, stale, forbidding ways Of custom, law and statute, took at once The attraction of a country in romance!

​Sensory language helps enhance the message here. Words like ' bliss and joy' convey a positive tone.
'meager and stale' contrast a negative tone. Reinforcing the message of the city being taken over

Task

Reading the Prelude

• Summarize each stanza into one line explaining who is involved and what is happening

• Answer the questions at the end in your copybooks