"The Prelude: Stealing The Boat" By William Wordsworth
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- 1.The Prelude: Stealing the boat is written by William Wordsworth.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 2.Form: The Prelude: Stealing the Boat is a _______________. This makes the poem sound personal and describes a turning point in the poet's life.
- A.
Second- person narrative
- B.
First-person narrative
- C.
Third-person narrative
- D.
Written in iambic pentameter
- 3.Form: The use of _____________ _____________ makes the poem sound serious and important.
- A.
Rhyming couplets
- B.
Alliteration and assonance
- C.
Blank verse
- D.
Simile and metaphor
- 4.Structure: In the first section of the extract, The Prelude: Stealing the Boat, the tone is ____________ and __________.
- A.
Serious and carefree
- B.
Carefree and ominous
- C.
Dark and fearful
- D.
Light and carefree
- 5.Structure: When the mountain appears in The Prelude: Stealing the Boat, there is a distinct change in tone. The tone becomes _____________ and ___________
- A.
Happier and more casual
- B.
Light and carefree
- C.
Darker and more fearful
- D.
More fearful and more confident
- 6.Which of the following is an oxymoron that hints at the speaker's guilt in The Prelude: Stealing the Boat?
- A.
Its usual home ( l. 3)
- B.
Act of stealth (l. 5)
- C.
Troubled pleasure ( l. 6)
- D.
Utmost boundary
- 7.Which of the following in The Prelude: Stealing the Boat, suggests the speaker knows that he is doing something wrong and gives us the first clue that something "is not quite right"?
- A.
Led by her (l. 1)
- B.
Its usual home ( l. 3)
- C.
Straight I loosed her ( l. 4)
- D.
An act of stealth
- 8.Which of the following is an appropriate description of the change in the speaker in The Prelude: Stealing the Boat?
- A.
The poem shows the spiritual growth of the poet, how he comes to terms with who he is, and his place in nature and the world.
- B.
The poem shows the dramatic change in the poet, how he becomes a more confident person.
- 9.Epics are very long pieces of writing that usually deal with exciting, action-packed heroic events like wars or explorations. Although many of the events Wordsworth writes about are 'ordinary' they are given an epic quality, to fully describe the impact they had on his life. (Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryplace/thepreluderev3.shtml)
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 10.The Prelude can be viewed as an epic poem, in length at least.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 11.The metaphor "an elfin pinnace" ( line 17) makes the boat and the scene seem magical and exciting.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 12.The Prelude: Stealing the Boat is extract of 44 lines written in blank verse.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 13.StructureThere are no stanzas: the writing is continuous though there is plenty of punctuation to help us read it. This extract is a complete story in itself. It starts with "One summer evening..." and finishes with the effects on his mind of the boat trip: "a trouble to my dreams". (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryplace/thepreluderev4.shtml)
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 14.SoundThe Prelude is conversational, as if Wordsworth is sat next to us, telling us the story himself. The poet uses "and"s throughout to give the verse a breathless quality.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 15.Which of the following imagery could be associated with gothic (sinister or grotesque) tales, nightmares or even horror?
- A.
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;
- B.
Small circles glittering idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track Of sparkling light.
- C.
One summer evening (led by her) I found A little boat tied to a willow tree Within a rocky cave, its usual home Straight I unloosed her chain
- 16.Which of the following lines from The Prelude: Stealing the Boat, makes the narrator sound confident - even a bit arrogant?
- A.
The horizon's utmost boundary, far above was nothing but the stars and the grey sky. (L.15-16)
- B.
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
- C.
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
- 17.Which figure of speach is used in the following lines from The Prelude: Stealing the Boat?...a huge peak, black and huge,As if with voluntary power instinct,Upreared its head...For so it seemed, with purpose of its ownAnd measured motion like a living thing,Strode after me.
- A.
Simile
- B.
Metaphor
- C.
Personification
- D.
Hyperbole
- 18.The mountain is personified In the lines below. This creates a beautiful image that contrasts with the earlier ugly images of the boat as "an elfin pinnace" ( line 17)....a huge peak, black and huge,As if with voluntary power instinct,Upreared its head...For so it seemed, with purpose of its ownAnd measured motion like a living thing,Strode after me.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 19.In lines 25-29 of The Prelude: Stealing the Boat, the mountain is personified to create a scary, ugly image of nature that contrasts with the earlier images of magic and serenity.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 20.Which of the following lines from The Prelude: Stealing the Boat, present nature as a powerful, conscious being that can influence our lives?
- A.
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 (l. 42-44)
- B.
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 (l. 35-39)
- C.
Option 3
- D.
Option 4
- 21.Which of the following lines from The Prelude: Stealing the Boat suggest that the narrator does not understand what he has seen and is struggling to describe the effect nature had on him when he encountered the mountain?
- A.
...a huge peak, black and huge, As if with voluntary power instinct, Upreared its head... For so it seemed, with purpose of its own And measured motion like a living thing, Strode after me.
- B.
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 (l. 35-39)
- C.
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;
- D.
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
- 22.Attitudes and ideasWordsworth does not view humanity as having authority over nature. If anything, it's the other way round as we can see from his description of the huge mountain. Wordsworth also realises that once an event has happened, that doesn't mean it's over; the effect stayed with him for days afterwards.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 23.An important theme in The Prelude: Stealing the boat is that humanity is part of nature and sometimes we can be made to feel very small and insignificant by the natural world.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 24.The Prelude: Stealing the Boat is written in blank verse - unrhyming lines each containing five beats or feet. This verse form (much used by Shakespeare) follows the natural patterns of spoken English, so we feel that the poets are talking to us.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 25.There is a shift from confidence to fear.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 26.The poet admits to being afraid of nature.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 27.There is a turning point (volta) in the poem.
- A.
True
- B.
False
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