The Prelude is a fourteen part autobiographical poem about the life of William Wordsworth. In part six of the poem, Wordsworth describes his travels across the Alps, and more importantly, his encounter with the Simplon Pass. Last week, our group decided to visit this famous landmark.
As the bus came to a halt, Dr. Davies told our group we had arrived at our destination. I was surprised because the Simplon Pass didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary; it felt like we had just driven to the top of a hill. I then recalled how Wordsworth wrote about the same feeling. In fact, Wordsworth didn’t even know he’d reached the height of the Simplon Pass; he passed through it without a clue. If I had not known that was our destination, I too would’ve passed through it without a thought.
As I pondered the situation more, I realized Wordsworth wrote about his feelings over two hundred years, yet I wasn’t feeling different from him. Sure, there were signs, roads, buildings, and busses marking the Simplon Pass, but the site wasn’t significant to me. The look of the place may have changed, but the nature of the area stayed the same.
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