People identify Wordsworth’s The Prelude as an autobiographical account. But critics recognize the poem as the worst autobiography. However, debate can’t undermine the value of this masterpiece. And to date, the autobiographical poem remains the vivid portrayer of the poetic mind’s journey.
The famous poem, The Prelude, delicately exhibits how experience can impact the habit of a poetic mind. It suggests how a keen observation can establish a perfect relationship between the world and the poet. And the visible influence of the French Revolution on William Wordsworth in the poem proves this fact.
Undoubtedly, the French Revolution was perhaps the most impacting event in Wordsworth’s life. And most importantly, his early poetic understanding and enthusiasm about a revolution and its later impacts are acutely present in his said poetic masterpiece.
Yes, the famous poem portrays the English poet’s “republican sympathies” acutely. His acceptance of “revulsion from France” also gets remarkably marked. In short, a vivid precision about the flourish of the poetic concept remains the central theme of Wordsworth’s The Prelude.
In this poem, readers can’t find William Wordsworth as a romantic poet. There is an acute sense of a different poetic verse in every part of the poem. Almost every line of the autobiographical poem shows how the poet got influenced by revolutionary zeal. Moreover, the literary touch reveals how the English author’s thinking associated more with humans than nature.
In a word, his deep passion for nature diminishes and paves the way for humanity. However, this acute fondness embraced repugnance when the poet witnessed that the French Revolution acquired the shape of a “reign of terror.”
There was an utter disillusionment in the mind of the English poet. He distanced himself from France. In addition, Wordsworth found solace in Godwin’s intellectualism. For the author, it remained a period of moral crisis.
His kind-hearted sister, Dorothy, played a dominant role in healing his pain. Her matchless caring helped him to recover his affection for nature. Even the contemporary English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge emerged as an incomparable help for Wordsworth. In truth, the combined initiative of Coleridge and Dorothy helped Wordsworth regain his association with nature.
This way, the accord between nature and Wordsworth’s poetic mind regained momentum. And the bitterness about the French Revolution gradually came to an end. In reality, this entire journey of the poetic mind is evident in Wordsworth’s The Prelude.
