GCSE English poetry comparison- 'Prelude' vs 'War photographer'

Compare the ways poets present fear in ‘The Prelude’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and
Conflict’.

Wordsworth’s Prelude demonstrates the fear of mankind’s insignificance in the face of nature; nature is
seen as omnipotent, timeless and powerful. In contrast, Duffy’s War Photographer looks an mankind’s
sense of superiority but particularly British superiority in the face of their privileged lifestyle. Fear in this
poem comes in the form of the poet’s fear of British insensitivity to global conflict. Therefore, fear is
explored in both poems from the perspective of mankind’s arrogance without consideration of the wider
picture.

Wordsworth’s Prelude looks at the oxymoron of “troubled pleasure”. The narrator of the poem gets both
pleasure from the timeless beauty of the mountainous surroundings but in contrast is also filled with
“trouble” at the ephemeral nature of human existence which makes humans fearful. The oxymoron used
is symbolic of the emotional dilemma provided by nature, suggesting the fear of human beings' inferiority
and mortality in the face of timeless nature.



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