Analysis of 'Prelude' and 'Barn Owl' for Module C Task 1

This assignment provides an analysis of the poem 'Prelude' by William Wordsworth and compares it to the story of the 'Barn Owl', focusing on the concept of 'spots of time' and imaginative writing. The analysis explores the childhood experiences, philosophical narrative sequences, and the transition from innocence to awareness. It examines how the 'spots of time' in 'Prelude' reflect the childhood episodes and the boy's experience in the 'Barn Owl' story. The assignment highlights the use of imagination, the development of life stages, and the ethical and moral blindness experienced in both works. References to relevant books and journals are also included to support the analysis. The assignment aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the themes of childhood, imagination, and the narrative techniques employed in both the poem and the story.

Module C The Craft of
Writing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

TASK 1
The notion of ‘spots of time’ in the poem ‘Prelude’ can be explained as imaginative writing
because the major action in the poem is basically an action of ideas. Therefore, it is completely
inaccurate to discuss the spots of time in the poem without imaginations. This spots of time can
be incorporated with the story of Barn owl as this also describes the experience of childhood and
the spots of time in the prelude also talks about the boyhood experiences. Prelude was
completely about accumulating the experiences to discuss at the present. Spots of time was
basically a series which explained about the Wordsworth childhood episodes in which he felt a
common union with the nature and the things related to the nature which made his vision so high.
The narrative sequences were presented in the form of passages which were philosophical.
Similarly, in the poem Barn Owl also, the author discussed about his childhood experience when
his family members were asleep and the boy woke up in the morning and took the gun of his
father and snuck out of the house (Wordsworth, 2020). He was trying to make his dream true by
behaving like a perfect child. The boy knew where his prize was and then decided to shot the owl
and for that he stayed in the hay along with the smell of urine and behaving like he is dead by not
taking any breathe. This sight could be imagining as none of the child can think to hit the owl in
such a situation. This is why this story can be compared to the ‘spots of time’ of the poem
Prelude. The story described the whole scene of the boy trying to hit the owl in absence of
anyone. But after facing all the situations in front of the owl bleeding completely fired the gun.
The owl died after a moment but the child was not happy and buried himself in the arms of his
father and started crying. The boy cried continuously till the sun rose.
Similarly in the prelude also the continued describing his childhood till his youth. The
main aim of the pet was to collect the experiences and give the introduction regarding the
Recluse. The complete poem was also the collection of ideas which were summarized in a very
beautiful way. The poem was divided into three sections which shown the development of life of
Wordsworth. Firstly, he imagined about all the things related to nature and wrote graceful lyrics
regarding this. This was followed by describing the later years of his life. In the first stage, the
author imagined about the nature and in the second stage he described about the days of hope
while the third stage was coinciding with the later years of reaction (Romanow, 2020). The
whole poem was the creation of the poet and the poem was a great success of the author because
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there was nothing remained to deal with the same. Similarly, the story of the barn owl was also
completely imaginary as the child was a horny fiend who was ready to perform the senseless evil
deed just in order to get the prize which was the death of the owl. The prelude shown the
transition between the ages of the person from child to becoming an adult and in the story of the
barn owl, there was a transition of the child from the innocence to awareness and to the ethical
and moral blindness (Daniel, 2017). The child faced many weird things like the smell of the
urine but was dedicated to achieve his aim of killing the owl and he had done this. This is how
the story of the barn owl and the spots of time of prelude poem written by Wordsworth can be
incorporated with each other.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Daniel, C., 2017. Milton, Politics and The Prelude. The Wordsworth Circle. 48(3). pp.172-177.
Romanow, J., 2020. Prelude Interrupted: Wordsworth and Ethical Failure. Essays in
Romanticism. 27(1). pp.41-61.
Wordsworth, W., 2020. The Prelude-An Autobiographical Poem. Read Books Ltd.
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