The poem starts with a very calm, placid and serene mood but ends with a sense of foreboding in the poet, and with a sense of loss of creativity. The poem is remarkable for its simple thought, lucid language and pictorial quality and it reflects an important event concerning Wordsworth's childhood and life. The poem opens with a picture of a moon-blanched summer evening. The poet is found to be in a happy mood. He confesses the "act of stealth" after having stolen a boat tied to a willow tree within a rocky cave, its "usual home". He is not...
This is the first stage of the re-awakening of the soul, to explore further and look deeper. This is the stage in which he has to go through the trauma and agony of the acceptance of his problem.

Primarily a poet of Nature, Wordsworth conceives nature in a spiritual angle. He is the poet-priest in the temple of Nature and in his poetry, Nature with all its tranquility comes first. This excerpt from 'The Prelude' has a style which is very fluid and natural. The language too is simple enough to captivate even the heart of a common man.