The Two-Part Prelude is a long poem of Wordsworth’s that discusses his relationship with memory, death, growing up, and his role as the poet.
In the first part, it is clear that Wordsworth has been affected by the deaths around him. He intertwines these deaths, almost, like markers of time passing. In doing this, he is able to show his own naïvety as a young boy and how that is chipped away with grief and loss. Line 357, “I looked in such anxiety of hope,” in particular highlights this event. In this moment, he looks upon his father’s grave and sees himself hopeful for the future as he is becoming an adult but also set off kilter by the sudden loss of his father. The “anxiety of hope” is something that I think many people can empathize with as they are growing up. Wordsworth’s acknowledgement of this shows his deep passion for understanding and valuing childhood as a way of being able to reflect upon oneself in the present.
The idea of memory is also intrinsically tied in with the idea of loss. I believe this is done quite poignantly. Memory is and will always be something that is lost, we can never have that moment in the present again. It will always be something of the past that we may enter back into in the present but for a limited, secluded period of time. Wordsworth shows in his poem that the loss of the present and its movement into memory is something that we should value. We ought to be glad that these memories can be called upon because of how they may aid us in figuring out who we are in the present and as change comes closer.
Romanticism Blog 