Starter quiz
- In which century was 'The Prelude' published?
- 17th century
- 18th century
- 19th century ✓
- 20th century
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- What does the 'The Prelude' tell the story of?
- Wordsworth's childhood spent at home with his family
- Wordsworth's childhood spent ice-skating with his friends ✓
- Wordsworth's childhood spent isolated at boarding school
- Wordsworth's childhood spent without his mother
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- How did Wordsworth describe the group of children in 'The Prelude?
- like wild horses
- like hunting dogs ✓
- like a shoal of fish
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- What method does Wordsworth use in the following quotation from 'The Prelude': "Proud and exulting, like an untir’d horse"?
- simile ✓
- metaphor
- pathetic fallacy
- onomatopoeia
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- Complete the quotation from Wordsworth's 'The Prelude': "The ______ windows through the twilight blaz'd,".
- 'cottage' ✓
- Starting with the first, put the following quotations 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
- 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
- unimportant by comparison to something or someone else ✓
- not thinking logically or reasonably
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- Which of the following emotions might 'The Sublime' evoke?
- indifference
- horror ✓
- awe ✓
- disappointment
- enthusiasm
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- Which of the following quotations illustrate Wordsworth's playfulness in 'The Prelude'?
- "I heeded not the summons: – happy time" ✓
- "Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud,"
- "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"
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- 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"
- "while the distant hills/ Into the tumult sent an alien sound" ✓
- "The cottage windows through the twilight blaz'd"
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- 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.
- 'Romantic' ✓
- What are the possible effects of the word "flew" in the line: "So through the darkness and the cold we flew," from 'The Prelude'?
- 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
- it shows how euphoric and elated the group are whilst skating together ✓
- it shows how the group have been liberated by their lack of responsibility
- it foreshadows the care-free futures the children will grow up to have
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Wordsworth conveys a sense of childlike innocence and naivety in his poem by portraying his younger self as mischievous.
- Wordsworth uses figurative language to convey the euphoria and excitement of the group as they skate.
- The Sublime is the meeting of our internal emotions, with the external, natural world.
- Wordsworth successfully portrays the beauty, magnitude and superiority of nature in the poem.
- Wordsworth ends the poem with a foreboding tone, perhaps to represent the darkness that would imminently enter his life.
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.
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
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