The World Is Too Much For Us
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In William Wordsworths “The World is Too Much With Us,” this poem heeds warning to his generation. This warning is that they are losing sight of what is actually important in this world: nature and God. To some people both of these are the same thing “as if lacking appreciation for the natural gifts of God is not sin enough, we add to it the insult of pride for our rape of His land” (Wordsworth). With his words, Wordsworth makes this message perpetual and everlasting. William Wordsworth loved nature and based many of his poems on it. He uses very strong diction to get his point and feelings across. This poem expresses Wordsworths feeling about nature and religion containing a melodic rhythm (Wordsworth). Each line and each word were chosen very carefully to express his thoughts and feelings. His references to God and Greek Gods catch the readers eye to find out why he connects God to nature (Gill). His soft tones and harsh words make the reader feel and see what the speaker does.
This relatively simple poem angrily states that human beings are too preoccupied with the material and have lost touch with the spiritual and with nature. The first part, the octave, of “The World Is Too Much with Us” begins with Wordsworth accusing the modern age of having lost its connection to nature and everything meaningful: “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; /Little we see in Nature that is ours; /We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon” (Nicholas)! The idea that Wordsworth is trying to make clear, is that human beings (adults) are too preoccupied in the material value of things (“The world getting and spending” (1-2)) and have lost their spiritual connection with Mother Nature (childhood). “Little we see in Nature that is ours;” (3) Wordsworth is expressing that nature is not a commodity to be exploited by humans, but should coexist with humanity, and “We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon” (4)! he pronounces that in our materialistic lifestyles, nothing is meaningful anymore. He says that even when the sea “bares her bosom to the moon” (5) and the winds howl, humanity is still out of tune. These lines (5-7) suggest that nature is helpless and unknown to the destruction man is doing. “For this, for everything, we are out of tune;” (8) proposes that even in the spectacle of a storm, human beings (adults) look on uncaringly implying that we, humans, dont realize the damage we are inflicting on helpless nature (Wordsworth). The symbolism created by the images and metaphors represent Wordsworths deep passion about the conflict between nature and modern progress. Images and metaphors alluding to mankinds greed, natures innocence, and the speakers rejection of accepted principles all serve to illustrate the speakers passion to save his generation (Gill).
The final part, the sestet, Wordsworth wishes that he were a pagan (a heathen) raised according to a different vision of the world, so that, “standing on this pleasant lea” (Nicholas), he might see images of ancient gods rising from the waves, a sight that would cheer him greatly. He wishes he had faith in ancient gods of nature to extract revenge on
people. Wordsworth imagines “Proteus rising from the sea” (Nicholas), and Triton “blowing his wreathed horn” (Nicholas). His dream of these ancient gods of the sea would save