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Year 11
Eduqas

Analysing 'Excerpt from The Prelude' by William Wordsworth

I can analyse how Wordsworth portrays his younger playfulness in contrast with the sheer power of nature.

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Year 11
Eduqas

Analysing 'Excerpt from The Prelude' by William Wordsworth

I can analyse how Wordsworth portrays his younger playfulness in contrast with the sheer power of nature.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Wordsworth conveys a sense of childlike innocence and naivety in his poem by portraying his younger self as mischievous.
  2. Wordsworth uses figurative language to convey the euphoria and excitement of the group as they skate.
  3. The Sublime is the meeting of our internal emotions, with the external, natural world.
  4. Wordsworth successfully portrays the beauty, magnitude and superiority of nature in the poem.
  5. Wordsworth ends the poem with a foreboding tone, perhaps to represent the darkness that would imminently enter his life.

Keywords

  • The Sublime - the meeting of our internal emotions, with the external, natural world

  • Mischief - playful misbehaviour

  • To humble - causing a person to feel less confident because of feelings of awe or admiration

  • Insignificant - unimportant by comparison to something or someone else

  • Irrational - not thinking logically or reasonably

Common misconception

Students think that because Wordsworth loved nature, he couldn't be frightened of it.

Wordsworth respected and loved nature - he understood the sheer size and power of nature versus his own existence. His own insignificance in the face of such astonishing and breath-taking views arguably made him feel slightly fearful.


To help you plan your year 11 english lesson on: Analysing 'Excerpt from The Prelude' by William Wordsworth, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

It would be great to show students videos of the Lake District, to show them the size of the hills and lakes so that they can better understand the concept of the sublime. You may also wish to read the 'Boat extract' from 'The Prelude' too - again this shows the idea of the fear of nature.
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Teacher tip
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Equipment

You will need access to a copy of the Eduqas poetry anthology for this lesson.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
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Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
In which century was 'The Prelude' published?
17th century
18th century
Correct answer: 19th century
20th century
Q2.
What does the 'The Prelude' tell the story of?
Wordsworth's childhood spent at home with his family
Correct answer: Wordsworth's childhood spent ice-skating with his friends
Wordsworth's childhood spent isolated at boarding school
Wordsworth's childhood spent without his mother
Q3.
How did Wordsworth describe the group of children in 'The Prelude?
like wild horses
Correct answer: like hunting dogs
like a shoal of fish
Q4.
What method does Wordsworth use in the following quotation from 'The Prelude': "Proud and exulting, like an untir’d horse"?
Correct answer: simile
metaphor
pathetic fallacy
onomatopoeia
Q5.
Complete the quotation from Wordsworth's 'The Prelude': "The windows through the twilight blaz'd,".
Correct Answer: cottage
Q6.
Starting with the first, put the following lines from 'The Prelude' in chronological order.
1 - And in the frosty season, when the sun
2 - I heeded not the summons: – happy time
3 - It was a time of rapture: clear and loud
4 - The village clock toll'd six; I wheel'd about,
5 - We hiss'd along the polish'd ice, in games
6 - Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud,
7 - The orange sky of evening died away.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following is the definition of insignificant?
playful misbehaviour
causing a person to feel less confident because of feelings of awe or admiration
Correct answer: unimportant by comparison to something or someone else
not thinking logically or reasonably
Q2.
Which of the following emotions might 'The Sublime' evoke?
indifference
Correct answer: horror
Correct answer: awe
disappointment
enthusiasm
Q3.
Which of the following quotations illustrate Wordsworth's playfulness in 'The Prelude'?
Correct answer: "I heeded not the summons: – happy time"
"Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud,"
Correct answer: "We hiss’d along the polish’d ice, in games"
"The leafless trees, and every icy crag"
"Into the tumult sent an alien sound/ Of melancholy"
Q4.
Which of the following quotations from 'The Prelude' illustrates Wordsworth's faint horror at the power of nature?
"And woodland pleasures, the resounding horn,"
"while the stars, Eastward, were sparkling clear"
Correct answer: "while the distant hills/ Into the tumult sent an alien sound"
"The cottage windows through the twilight blaz'd"
Q5.
The poets (like Wordsworth) were fascinated by the idea of the Sublime - the feeling of slight horror we get when confronted with the sheer enormity and presence of nature.
Correct Answer: Romantic
Q6.
What are the possible effects of the word "flew" in the line: "So through the darkness and the cold we flew," from 'The Prelude'?
Correct answer: it shows the speed at which the group are travelling across the ice
it shows that the boys are doing tricks on the ice, like spins and jumps
Correct answer: it shows how euphoric and elated the group are whilst skating together
it foreshadows the care-free futures the children will grow up to have

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