Compare And Contrast Two Or Three Poems Or Extracts From Longer Poems By Wordsworth

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 12th grade November 2001

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Compare and Contrast two or three poems or extracts from longer poems by Wordsworth In this essay I am going to compare and contrast two extracts from "˜The Prelude'. In both extracts, Wordsworth is exploring the effect of nature on himself as a young poet and how nature gave him moral guidance during his childhood. Whilst the first extract is about a rather serious, frightening experience, the second extract concerns an event which is much more exhilarating. His experiences in each are intensely personal and spontaneous, the result of his direct interaction with the natural world.

In each extract the young poet is doing an activity closely linked to nature. Extract One involves the boat-stealing adventure, when he took a boat out on the lake one evening in his holidays at Patterdale. Extract Two is when the young poet goes skating with the other boys one cold evening and really enjoys it, then he is attracted to skate alone by nature.

In doing this we realise he is just as happy in solitude as he is in a group. In both extracts there is a feeling of a sense of the hidden power of nature. In the first extract the mountains convey the power of nature, "˜With measured motion, like a living thing, Strode after me.' Here the mountains are personified and likened to an unknown creature. The word "˜Strode' indicates a strong and powerful movement, which shows the hidden strength of nature. In the second extract the power of nature is shown through the earth turning on its axis, "˜"¦ Yet still the solitary cliffs Wheeled by me "“ even as if the earth had rolled With visible motion her diurnal round!' This is an effective simile as it shows that nature has the power to drive the world...