Prelude

by William Wordsworth

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background -- all to help you gain greater insight into great works you're bound to study for school or pleasure."CliffsNotes on Wordsworth's The Prelude" describes the creation of a poet, one who was pivotal in English letters. The general procedure in "The Prelude" is to record an experience from the poet's past and then to examine its philosophical and psychological significance and relate it to society at large and to nature. Indeed, the outstanding virtue of "The Prelude" is its imaginative interpretation of nature.

In this study guide, you'll find Life and Background on the Author, Introduction to the Work, and Critical Commentaries on each book of "The Prelude." You'll also find A Brief Synopsis and Critical Essays on the following: Analysis of "The Prelude"Wordsworth's Literary HistoryWordsworth's Poetic TheoryA selected bibliographyAs well as suggested review questions and essay topics

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72 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a major English romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their 1798 joint publication, Lyrical Ballads.

Wordsworth's masterpiece is generally considered to be The Prelude, an autobiographical poem of his early years, which the poet revised and expanded a number of times. The work was posthumously titled and published, prior to which, it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.