Wordsworth's Plaintive and Gratulant Voice: A Study of The Prelude as Confessional Literature

• Main Authors: Wu, Ling-hwai, 吳玲慧
• Other Authors: Chun-san Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1998
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/18871862569876351940

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 外國語文學系研究所 === 86 === Wordsworth's The Prelude is a masterpiece of Romantic confession. The first chapter tries to clarify the definition of confessional literature, and to confirm the status of The Prelude in the western tradition of confessio nal literature. In the second chapter, classification of the confessional content of The Prelude is made on the basis of the poet's conscious "spots of time." Such "spots of time," in accordance with Wordswort h's idea of good poetry,can be regarded as the confessions of his genuine feelin gs.In the third chapter, emphasis is placed on the explication of the transfor mations of the mind in nature and society. The fourth chapter tries to justif y the existence of a double voice in the poet's confessing of the "spots of ti me." The last chapter concludes that The Prelude is a genre ofself-representa tion with the employment of new subjects, new moral attitudes, and a new kind of vision. A confessional piece of this sort puts forth anew cultural system of values for the later confessional creators to abide by.