Information about the Lakes District, where Wordsworth grew up and where this passage takes place. This excerpt from the Poetry Foundation contains the same passage as it was originally written in 1799, before more than 50 years of editing. The passage in this guide is from Book 1.

More “Extract from The Prelude (Boat Stealing)” Resources.

With trembling oars I turned,ģ0And through the silent water stole my wayģ2There in her mooring-place I left my bark,-ģ3And through the meadows homeward went, in graveģ5That spectacle, for many days, my brainģ6Worked with a dim and undetermined senseģ7Of unknown modes of being o'er my thoughtsģ8There hung a darkness, call it solitudeĤ1Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields Ĥ2But huge and mighty forms, that do not liveĤ3Like living men, moved slowly through the mindĤ4By day, and were a trouble to my dreams. I struck and struck again,Ģ5And growing still in stature the grim shapeĢ6Towered up between me and the stars, and still,Ģ7For so it seemed, with purpose of its ownĢ8And measured motion like a living thing,Ģ9Strode after me.

But now, like one who rows,ġ2Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen pointġ3With an unswerving line, I fixed my viewġ5The horizon's utmost boundary far aboveġ6Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.ġ9And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boatĢ0Went heaving through the water like a swan Ģ1When, from behind that craggy steep till thenĢ2The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge,Ģ4Upreared its head. It was an act of stealthĦAnd troubled pleasure, nor without the voiceĨLeaving behind her still, on either side,ĩSmall circles glittering idly in the moon,ġ1Of sparkling light. 4Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping inĥPushed from the shore.

Wordsworth the prelude