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Question: In the "Stealing the Boat" episode from The Prelude by William Wordsworth, what happens right after the young Wordsworth rows the stolen boat out onto the lake?
Rationale
As the speaker rows away from the shore, a towering cliff seems to rise and follow him "like a living thing." This eerie vision fills him with fear, prompting him to turn back, and the experience lingers in his mind for days — illustrating Wordsworth's idea of "spots of time" and the moral and spiritual lessons that Nature imparts.
In the "Stealing the Boat" episode from The Prelude, what effect does the experience have on the young Wordsworth after he returns the boat and goes to bed?
Rationale
After rowing the stolen boat and feeling as if he is being “pursued” by the towering mountain, Wordsworth returns it and goes to bed, but is left with “grave and serious thoughts” — dark, formless visions of “huge and mighty forms that do not live / Like living men” that trouble him for many days. This moment highlights a crucial instance of Nature serving as a moral and spiritual guide in the poem.
In the "Stealing the Boat" episode from The Prelude, how does young Wordsworth feel after rowing out onto the lake?
Rationale
After the boy takes the boat and rows out, a large, dark cliff seems to "stride" after him, filling him with guilt and dread. When he returns the boat, he’s left for days with "a dim and undetermined sense / Of unknown modes of being" — a deep, unsettling realization of nature as a vast moral force beyond human control.