8/14/2019 The WorlNotesd is Still With Us
1/2
By Dr. N. N. Patil, A. T. College, Bhor, Pune
The World is too much with us: William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth is a world famous nature poet. He likes and
loves very much. Nature is
everything for him. Nature is friend, philosopher, guide,
mother, nurse, teacher and everything inhis life. Nature is a great
source of joy for him. She is mans true home. Man gets peace of
mind
in her company. However, the poet thinks that man has lost his
contact with nature. Man has no
time for nature. He has eyes but he doesnt see the beauty of
nature. He has ears but he has no
time to the sweet music of nature. He has heart but he has lost
his sensitivity for the beauty of
nature.
Man has time for money, job and so many other things. He is too
busy with the world and so he
has lost his link with nature. He spends his time and power in
earning and spending money, but
he has no time for nature. Our minds and hearts are busy for
money and the world. This is a
curse.
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!
We have forgotten what is truly ours and run after unimportant
things. We have no time for the
moon and the sea and the flowers. The power of nature does not
move our hearts.
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.
That is why the poet says that it is better to be a pagan. The
pagan believed in the presence of
god in all forms of nature. The poet doesnt want to be a modern
man but a pagan. He will enjoy
the presence of gods like Proteus and Triton [sea gods] when he
stands on the grassland by the
side of the sea. A pagan sees that god lives everywhere in
nature- in trees, flowers, rocks,
mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, birds, animals, stars, skies,
etc. The things in the world has spoiled
man, nature will cure him. The poet understands the great power
of nature and he wants
everyone to understand the power. He wants us to worship
nature.
The poem is a sonnet. It is a poem of 14 lines. The poem can be
divided in two parts. The first
part is of 8 lines. It is called octave. In this octave, the
poet complains for the loss of mans
power to enjoy nature. The second part is of the last six lines.
It is called sestet. In this sestet,
Wordsworth wants to become a pagan even if modern people will
call him backward. The
poem has a very good rime-schemeabba abba[octave] cdcdcd
[sestet].
