The world is too much with us
This poem is a sonnet, and so in
iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is Italian, and follows: a, b, b, a, a, b,
b, a, c, d, c, d, c, d. This poem talks about man’s lack of connection with
nature.
The first line restates
the title. This line means that we are consuming the world instead of coexisting
with it. “Late and soon” refers to the evening and morning. The second line
“getting and spending” refers to our completely economically based society. “We
lay waste our powers” the powers we are wasting are the ones that the world
gives us naturally, we waste them by ignoring the forest and seeing only
lumber. The third line refers to how nothing Nature has is ours; it is all
resources for the pursuit of economical gains. The fourth line refers to how we
have given away our “hearts” for a dirty blessing; this means we have sold our
very beings for material gain. The next three lines each make reference to the
elements, “The Sea” represents the element of water, “The winds” make reference
to the element of air, and “flowers” refer to the element of earth.
The eighth line tells that
everything we are doing about the environment is wrong. The ninth line announces the poet's outrage at mankind. The remaining lines tell how the poet would rather be in a time period
without the technological benefits, if only to see Nature. The Gods Triton and Proteus mentioned are personification of Nature herself.
Wordsworth wrote this poem during
the time of the industrial revolution. It is interesting to see that
this poem remains highly relevant in today’s environmentally conscious society.
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