William Wordsworth was one of the great poets from the Romantic period. He was greatly affected and influenced by his close friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was also a well-known poet from the Romantic period. Wordsworth frequently wrote about the wonders of nature, and strived to use common language in order to reach the common man.
In Wordsworth's "The world is too much with us," Wordsworth laments the fate of modern humanity. He claims that by "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers" (page 234-line 2). He also saw that humans were no longer affected by nature, shown by his declaration that:
"The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The Winds that will behowling at all hours
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not." (page 234-lines 5-9)
I can only assume that Wordsworth hoped to shock people back into nature. By showing people that they no longer held dear nature, hopefully they would return to their love of nature. I feel that if Wordsworth were alive in our times, he would surely be disgusted by our society's general disdain for nature. Society has very recently turned into one that thrives on instant gratification; with new developments in technology, we now frequently do not--as the phrase goes--"stop and smell the roses."
Wordsworth finishes his wake-up call with expresses a wish to have been brought up as "A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn" (page 234-line 10) so that he might "Have glimpses that would make [him] less forlorn" (page 234-line 12).
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Leanne, I really liked this text too. I think it still holds true today (more than ever) that so many people don't realize the importance of the world around us. New developments and technology has caused us to lose sight of "the little things" that we should hold dear, and I think that Wordsworth showed a lot of frustration when composing this piece, he put a lot of emotion into it.
ReplyDeleteLeanne,
ReplyDeleteVery good first post. I like the way you focus on a specific poem by Wordsworth, rather than trying to talk about all of the readings for him. I also like the way your discussion of the poem features analysis of specific quoted passages (with citations) rather than generalizations and paraphrases. The only suggestion I would make is not to end with quotations that you do not analyze. Different readers may notice different aspects of a line, and so it is necessary for you to share your insights and observations.
You're right-- it was like Wordsworth was trying to "shock people back into nature", and I'm so glad that he did. A nature nut myself I think people should always be encouraged to connect with the outdoors, and that's precisely what Wordsworth was promoting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your blog and I find it interesting that when reading this poem I also read into Wordsworth longing for humanity to appreciate nature and their surroundings. It does seem like he is preaching to society as he sees it going down a toilet.
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