The Prelude, Book 1: Childhood And School-time Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSB TUHIVIOUIWXIIY ZA2B2SIC2D2IE2F2G2H2 SI2IJ2K2WL2UYIM2N2O2 P2Q2IR2S2T2VU2V2C2IS W2SIC2X2C2ISY2 Z2SA3B3UC3UIZSID3QC2 Y2E3B2IULL YIIF3UG3H3C2I3J3IA2K 3C2C2L3M3EC2IC2SELIN 3O3ISUSIC2C2I3IC2I3U SIILSP3C2C2EEIEEEQ3I E EIZ2C2C2LUC2EEIC2EI LEIEESIE

Was it for thisA
That one the fairest of all Rivers lov'dB
To blend his murmurs with my Nurse's songC
And from his alder shades and rocky fallsD
And from his fords and shallows sent a voiceE
That flow'd along my dreams For this didst ThouF
O Derwent travelling over the green PlainsG
Near my 'sweet Birthplace' didst thou beauteous StreamH
Make ceaseless music through the night and dayI
Which with its steady cadence temperingJ
Our human waywardness compos'd my thoughtsK
To more than infant softness giving meL
Among the fretful dwellings of mankindM
A knowledge a dim earnest of the calmN
That Nature breathes among the hills and grovesO
When having left his Mountains to the TowersP
Of Cockermouth that beauteous River cameQ
Behind my Father's House he pass'd close byR
Along the margin of our Terrace WalkS
He was a Playmate whom we dearly lov'dB
Oh many a time have I a five years' ChildT
A naked Boy in one delightful RillU
A little Mill race sever'd from his streamH
Made one long bathing of a summer's dayI
Bask'd in the sun and plunged and bask'd againV
Alternate all a summer's day or cours'dI
Over the sandy fields leaping through grovesO
Of yellow grunsel or when crag and hillU
The woods and distant Skiddaw's lofty heightI
Were bronz'd with a deep radiance stood aloneW
Beneath the sky as if I had been bornX
On Indian Plains and from my Mother's hutI
Had run abroad in wantonness to sportI
A naked Savage in the thunder showerY
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Fair seed time had my soul and I grew upZ
Foster'd alike by beauty and by fearA2
Much favour'd in my birthplace and no lessB2
In that beloved Vale to which erelongS
I was transplanted Well I call to mindI
'Twas at an early age ere I had seenC2
Nine summers when upon the mountain slopeD2
The frost and breath of frosty wind had snapp'dI
The last autumnal crocus 'twas my joyE2
To wander half the night among the CliffsF2
And the smooth Hollows where the woodcocks ranG2
Along the open turf In thought and wishH2
That time my shoulder all with springes hungS
I was a fell destroyer On the heightsI2
Scudding away from snare to snare I pliedI
My anxious visitation hurrying onJ2
Still hurrying hurrying onward moon and starsK2
Were shining o'er my head I was aloneW
And seem'd to be a trouble to the peaceL2
That was among them Sometimes it befelU
In these night wanderings that a strong desireY
O'erpower'd my better reason and the birdI
Which was the captive of another's toilsM2
Became my prey and when the deed was doneN2
I heard among the solitary hillsO2
Low breathings coming after me and soundsP2
Of undistinguishable motion stepsQ2
Almost as silent as the turf they trodI
Nor less in springtime when on southern banksR2
The shining sun had from his knot of leavesS2
Decoy'd the primrose flower and when the ValesT2
And woods were warm was I a plunderer thenV
In the high places on the lonesome peaksU2
Where'er among the mountains and the windsV2
The Mother Bird had built her lodge Though meanC2
My object and inglorious yet the endI
Was not ignoble Oh when I have hungS
Above the raven's nest by knots of grassW2
And half inch fissures in the slippery rockS
But ill sustain'd and almost as it seem'dI
Suspended by the blast which blew amainC2
Shouldering the naked crag Oh at that timeX2
While on the perilous ridge I hung aloneC2
With what strange utterance did the loud dry windI
Blow through my ears the sky seem'd not a skyS
Of earth and with what motion mov'd the cloudsY2
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The mind of Man is fram'd even like the breathZ2
And harmony of music There is a darkS
Invisible workmanship that reconcilesA3
Discordant elements and makes them moveB3
In one society Ah me that allU
The terrors all the early miseriesC3
Regrets vexations lassitudes that allU
The thoughts and feelings which have been infus'dI
Into my mind should ever have made upZ
The calm existence that is mine when IS
Am worthy of myself Praise to the endI
Thanks likewise for the means But I believeD3
That Nature oftentimes when she would frameQ
A favor'd Being from his earliest dawnC2
Of infancy doth open out the cloudsY2
As at the touch of lightning seeking himE3
With gentlest visitation not the lessB2
Though haply aiming at the self same endI
Does it delight her sometimes to employU
Severer interventions ministryL
More palpable and so she dealt with meL
-
-
One evening surely I was led by herY
I went alone into a Shepherd's BoatI
A Skiff that to a Willow tree was tiedI
Within a rocky Cave its usual homeF3
'Twas by the shores of Patterdale a ValeU
Wherein I was a Stranger thither comeG3
A School boy Traveller at the HolidaysH3
Forth rambled from the Village Inn aloneC2
No sooner had I sight of this small SkiffI3
Discover'd thus by unexpected chanceJ3
Than I unloos'd her tether and embark'dI
The moon was up the Lake was shining clearA2
Among the hoary mountains from the ShoreK3
I push'd and struck the oars and struck againC2
In cadence and my little Boat mov'd onC2
Even like a Man who walks with stately stepL3
Though bent on speed It was an act of stealthM3
And troubled pleasure not without the voiceE
Of mountain echoes did my Boat move onC2
Leaving behind her still on either sideI
Small circles glittering idly in the moonC2
Until they melted all into one trackS
Of sparkling light A rocky Steep uproseE
Above the Cavern of the Willow treeL
And now as suited one who proudly row'dI
With his best skill I fix'd a steady viewN3
Upon the top of that same craggy ridgeO3
The bound of the horizon for behindI
Was nothing but the stars and the grey skyS
She was an elfin Pinnace lustilyU
I dipp'd my oars into the silent LakeS
And as I rose upon the stroke my BoatI
Went heaving through the water like a SwanC2
When from behind that craggy Steep till thenC2
The bound of the horizon a huge CliffI3
As if with voluntary power instinctI
Uprear'd its head I struck and struck againC2
And growing still in stature the huge CliffI3
Rose up between me and the stars and stillU
With measur'd motion like a living thingS
Strode after me With trembling hands I turn'dI
And through the silent water stole my wayI
Back to the Cavern of the Willow treeL
There in her mooring place I left my BarkS
And through the meadows homeward went with graveP3
And serious thoughts and after I had seenC2
That spectacle for many days my brainC2
Work'd with a dim and undetermin'd senseE
Of unknown modes of being in my thoughtsE
There was a darkness call it solitudeI
Or blank desertion no familiar shapesE
Of hourly objects images of treesE
Of sea or sky no colours of green fieldsE
But huge and mighty Forms that do not liveQ3
Like living men mov'd slowly through the mindI
By day and were the trouble of my dreamsE
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Wisdom and Spirit of the universeE
Thou Soul that art the eternity of thoughtI
That giv'st to forms and images a breathZ2
And everlasting motion not in vainC2
By day or star light thus from my first dawnC2
Of Childhood didst Thou intertwine for meL
The passions that build up our human SoulU
Not with the mean and vulgar works of ManC2
But with high objects with enduring thingsE
With life and nature purifying thusE
The elements of feeling and of thoughtI
And sanctifying by such disciplineC2
Both pain and fear until we recognizeE
A grandeur in the beatings of the heartI
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Nor was this fellowship vouchsaf'd to meL
With stinted kindness In November daysE
When vapours rolling down the valleys madeI
A lonely scene more lonesome among woodsE
At noon and 'mid the calm of summer nightsE
When by the margin of the trembling LakeS
Beneath the gloomy hills I homeward wentI
In solitude such intercourse wasE

William Wordsworth



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