By: Kyle, Molly, and Zack William Wordsworth "The World is too
much With Us; Late and Soon"
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William Wordsworth Bio Born on April 7 th, 1770 He and Samuel
T. Coleridge invented a new style of poetry in their poetry
collection, Lyrical Ballads, which helped launch the Romantic Era
of English literature Lived in Englands scenic Lake District
instead of urban London. The landscape, full of hills, valleys, and
lakes, was his inspiration for many of his poems He died at Rydal
Mount, England on April 23 rd, 1850
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Background on Wordsworth as a poet Poetic composition was his
primary mode of expression Wrote without metrical structure
Remembered as a poet that was concerned with human relationship to
nature Argues that poetry should be written in natural language of
common speech Poems should offer access to the emotions contained
in memory
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Journal Are we addicted to technology and material things? How
long could you go without your phone?
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Background on Poem Probably written in 1802 Published in 1807
Written about humanitys inability to feel natures beauty A
Petrarchan Sonnet Written in iambic pentameter, has 5 sets of
stressed and unstressed syllables Rhyme Scheme: ABBA ABBA
CDCDCD
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Information on Poem Theme and main idea: Angrily states that
human beings are too preoccupied with material things and have lost
touch with nature Tone: Angry, annoyed. He wants people to
appreciate the beauty of nature instead of focusing on material
things Elements of Poetry: metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery,
and end rhyme.
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Poem: The World is too much With Us; Late and Soon The world is
too much with us; late and soon, 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! The Sea that bares her bosom to the
moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are
up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we
are out of tune; It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan
suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant
lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of
Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed
horn.
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Summary The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting
and spending, we lay waste our powers: The author believes that we
are too addicted to consumerism and power. Little we see in Nature
that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! We no
longer see the beauty of nature, it has become worthless to us. The
Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be
howling at all hours And are gathered now like sleeping flowers For
this, for everything we are out of tune;
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Summary Continued Wordsworth continues to criticize man for
distance from nature. The Sea and Wind are representative of
nature. The author says that we are out of tune because we are
separated from nature. It moves us not.Great God! Id rather be A
Pagan suckled in a creed outworn He would rather be a Pagan than be
separated from nature. So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Hes standing on an
open grassland and pondering.
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Summary Continued Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or
hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn Proteus is the GOD of the
sea and Triton is a moon. He says he might see Proteus coming out
of the ocean or Triton blowing his horn.
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Why is this a Romantic poem? It was written during the Romantic
period which was from 1790 to 1824 It talks about nature It
resembles some of our modern-day problems with the environment
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Real World Connection Today there is so much technology and
buildings like shopping malls, that people tend to focus more on
buying material things and texting on their cell phones than
watching and appreciating nature. Most people are also more worried
about social networking than on things like deforestation and
urbanization.
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Groups Opinion It was surprising how true the poem was today
even when it was written about 200 years ago. It tells readers that
even in the 1800s, people were more obsessed with material things
than they were about nature. We know that Wordsworth really cares
about nature because we can tell that his tone is angry.
