The Stolen Boat

About the Author & Poem

William Wordsworth (1770–1850): A major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature. He served as Britain's Poet Laureate and is celebrated for his deep spiritual connection to nature.

The Poem: "The Stolen Boat" is an extract from Wordsworth's masterpiece, The Prelude. It describes a childhood experience where the young poet "borrows" a boat without permission. The story illustrates a transition from the initial joy of adventure to a sense of guilt and terror as nature appears to take on a menacing, moralistic form. It highlights Wordsworth’s belief that nature acts as a powerful teacher for the human conscience.

I. Comprehension Questions (Brief Answers)

Answer: The cool summer breeze provoked the boy to take the boat.

Answer: The boat was moored inside a rocky cave, tied to a willow tree.

Answer: It means the place where the boat was usually moored.

Answer: The boat.

Answer: The attraction of the boat to the boy is so much that it acquires a human presence in his mind.

Answer: The boy takes away the boat without the permission of the owner of the boat.

Answer: Mountain-echoes of the sound of the oars splashing in the water.

Answer: The picture is of small ripples caused in the water by the moving oars, and their fading away to leave only a long stretch of reflected moonlight in the water in the wake of the boat.

Answer: The small ripples in the water.

Answer: Two peaks are mentioned: The first one is a craggy ridge, the one the boy wanted to reach; the second one is a black and huge peak which looms suddenly in front of him. The second one is bigger.

Answer: The boat is compared to a swan gliding smoothly in the water. The purpose of the comparison is to highlight the graceful movement of the boat.

Answer:
a) Pleasure: Taking the boat away all by himself.
b) Trouble: The narrator's pleasure is 'troubled' because his conscience pricks him on his stealthy act.

Answer: Rising from behind the craggy ridge all of a sudden; being black and huge in size; went on growing in size till it towered between the boy and the stars; seemed to be coming after the boy with a measured step.

Answer:
a) Who is trembling? The boy is trembling.
b) Figure of Speech: Transferred Epithet.
c) Why? The boy is trembling because he is frightened by the 'approaching' peak.

Answer: (c) the mysterious shapes and images haunting him.

Answer: Fear caused by the sight of the huge, black peak.

Answer: After the experience, there hung over the boy's thoughts darkness which can be called solitude or blank desertion. There were no familiar shapes or pleasant images of trees, sea or sky. There were just huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men. These forms moved slowly through his mind by day and troubled him in his dreams.

II. Close Study (Extracts)

a) What does 'she' refer to?
Answer: The little boat.

b) What is the figure of speech used here?
Answer: Personification.

c) What does 'elfin' mean?
Answer: Very small in size.

d) What is the figure of speech used in 'elfin pinnace'?
Answer: Metaphor.

e) What quality in the movement of the boat is highlighted?
Answer: The smooth, pleasant and light movement of the boat.

a) Name the figure of speech used in 'trembling oars'.
Answer: Transferred Epithet.

b) What made the boy tremble?
Answer: The sudden presence of the huge, black peak which seemed to move with a measured step towards him.

c) What does the boy want to do with the boat?
Answer: The boy wanted to take the boat to a craggy ridge.

III. Paragraph Writing

Answer: Probably because the boy was very young, he was not allowed to row it on his own, or probably the owner of the boat did not like anyone touching his boat. Here the boy does not inform the owner or take his permission to use the boat. Hence Wordsworth says that the boy's moving of the boat is an act of stealth. It was an act of stealing and his joy and thrill of adventure were troubled by a sense of guilt.

Answer: The poet wanted to take the boat near a craggy ridge, but the sudden appearance of the huge, black peak unnerved him. The more he rowed the boat, the bigger the peak seemed to become in front of him. Soon it seemed to move with a measured step like a living being towards the poet. This made the poet turn back towards the rocky cave in terror.

Answer: Wordsworth treats nature as a conscious, living entity throughout the poem. Supporting details include: 'One summer evening' (the provocation); 'small circles glittering idly in the moon'; 'she was an elfin pinnace' (attributing life to the boat); 'my boat went heaving through the water like a swan'; and most powerfully, '... a huge peak, black and huge, as if with voluntary power instinct, upreared its head' and seemed to pursue him with measured steps.

IV. Poem Summary

The cool summer evening provokes the boy to engage in some mischief. He decides to release a moored boat and take it away on the sea all by himself. Everything around is still, and the sound of the splash of the oars seem to echo the loud heartbeats of the boy. He is feeling guilty for having taken the boat in a stealthy manner. There is pale moonlight reflected beautifully in the water, and the boat sails smoothly like a swan. The boy wants to take the boat to a craggy rock. As he nears it, there seems to arise behind the craggy rock a huge peak, black and menacing. As the boy rows closer to it, it seems to grow bigger and bigger. Very soon, it seems to be walking towards the boy in a threatening manner. The boy gets terrified and immediately turns back. In a great hurry, he goes back to the cave and moors the boat. For many days after, day and night, he is haunted by the 'huge' peak which seems to be moving towards him in his thoughts.