Wordsworth's poem, The Prelude, is viewed as an artistic response to traumatic events of his childhood: his mother died before his eighth birthday and his father died when he was thirteen. The author wonders if Wordsworth's mourning may be identified as "pathological" and cites the work of Bowlby to address the issue of splitting which may occur in response to a child's loss of a parent. Wordsworth's linking of his impatient excitement for horses to be sent (a link with father) anticipated Christmas reunion with father, and the death of his father shortly after the vacation began provides evidence for displacement of focus from "loss" to "anticipation." His self-reproach for vain excitement over horses and guilt over his father's death suggest that primitive unconscious guilt may have motivated some of his poetic expression.