William Wordsworth's The Prelude: Beauty and Fear in the Pedagogy of Nature

Abstract

This thesis examines the critical tradition surrounding William Wordsworth's The Prelude, and seeks to argue the continued importance of Nature in the development of his poetic or Imaginative capabilities. Specifically, it looks at how we can see the interactions of mind and Nature in what Wordsworth himself calls, "spots of time," and how such interactions remain necessary and productive towards his education and growth as a poet and a human being.