The Prelude is a poem by William Wordsworth, written over the course of his life and intended as a prologue to his philosophical poem The Recluse. The poem was published in 1850, after Wordsworth's death. The poem is very personal and tells the story of Wordsworth's life, his childhood, his travels and the development of his poetry. The poem deals with themes of development, imagination and subjectivity, while suggesting that life is a cycle in which we return to the place we came from.
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