This is one of the earliest references in English poetry to kiteflying. In this part of The Prelude, the poet is recalling some of the formative experiences of his childhood.

(The Prelude is a long autobiographical poem in which Wordsworth describes and reflects on the growth of his poet‘s mind. He never let it be published in his lifetime, as being “a thing unprecedented in literary history, that a man should talk so much about himself” — though at the end of his life he carefully revised it for publication after his death. It is generally considered to be one of the finest long poems in the English language.)