Perseverance
It’s exam time for a lot of us out there…so here is William Wordsworth’s The Prelude to provide inspiration
One summer evening (led by her) I found A little boat tied to a willow tree Within a rocky cove, its usual home. Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on; Leaving behind her still, on either side, Small circles glittering idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track Of sparkling light. But now, like one who rows, Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point With an unswerving line, I fixed my view Upon the summit of a craggy ridge, The horizon's utmost boundary; far above Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky. She was an elfin pinnace; lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake, And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat Went heaving through the water like a swan; When, from behind that craggy steep till then The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge, As if with voluntary power instinct, Upreared its head. I struck and struck again, And growing still in stature the grim shape Towered up between me and the stars, and still, For so it seemed, with purpose of its own And measured motion like a living thing, Strode after me.
Hans Dahl, Figures in a rowing-boat on a fjord (1917)
With trembling oars I turned, And through the silent water stole my way Back to the covert of the willow tree; There in her mooring-place I left my bark, - And through the meadows homeward went, in grave And serious mood; but after I had seen That spectacle, for many days, my brain Worked with a dim and undetermined sense Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts There hung a darkness, call it solitude Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes Remained, no pleasant images of trees, Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields; But huge and mighty forms, that do not live Like living men, moved slowly through the mind By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.
Theodor Kittelsen, Soria Moria Slot
What we love about this passage…
Our guest curator, GCSE student Gavin Barr, shares his thoughts on why he chose the extract:
‘This is a poem from my GCSE English poetry anthology which I think is interesting as it uses nature to depict a tough situation. The boy in the poem starts out with confidence and intention but turns back, discouraged, when he encounters a challenge (the huge peak).
With exams approaching I think this poem is a motivation for perseverance and never giving up, as I believe if the boy had kept rowing towards his fears it would have turned out positively for him.’
The mountain seems alive. It even strides after the boy. What tricks sublime nature can play on the imagination! As Wordsworth tells us elsewhere in this long autobiographical poem, he was raised ‘by beauty and by fear’. We love the way the text illustrates that idea.
And although they’re not showing the Lake District (where this passage is set), the two famous Norwegian landscape paintings that we’ve chosen capture the vastness and unspoilt beauty of Wordsworth’s scene.
If you enjoyed reading today’s newsletter, check out our earlier newsletter featuring another bit of Wordsworth’s Prelude.
Curator’s Corner
Gavin Barr is a year 11 student who lives in Oxford.
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