The World Is Too Much with Us: Long Answer-type Questions

The World Is Too Much with Us: Long Answer-type Questions

Answer the following questions in about 150 words each

Q1. What does the poet think about the way a man treats nature? How does he express his thoughts and feelings on this topic in the poem?

 Or Summary of the poem ‘The World Is Too Much with Us'

Ans.   The poet thinks that we have made ourselves detached (cut off/separated) from Nature. We are every time busy in earning and spending money. We have no communion with Nature. He means to say that God has created Nature for all the creatures on the earth. So Nature belongs to us and we also belong to Nature. We cannot afford separation from it. If it happens, harmful effects on the earth can be felt or seen. We have given our hearts to material things. It means we have started loving them. He expresses his deep concern over people’s growing love for worldly things. Man has become a slave to the god of money, Mammon. All the diseases and mental discomforts are due to our love for material things. As a great worshipper of Nature, the poet appeals to all of us to give up Mammon-worship and start loving Nature.

To prove his love for nature, the poet declares that the Pagans in ancient times lived a healthier life. It is because they were always connected to nature. They were nourished in the lap of nature. So, all qualities of head and heart, like patience, love, peace, hard work, etc. automatically got imbibed into their personality. This is the reason why the poet wishes to become a pagan and have glimpses of gods of nature.

Q2.The sonnet is a criticism of life in this modern mechanized milieu. Comment on the assessment of this fine.

Ans. The sonnet is really a criticism of life because William Wordsworth makes a strong case of criticism against life the people had started living in the nineteenth century under the effect of industrialization and scientific progress. The case is still applicable in this modern mechanized world of today also. We don’t have any time to ‘stand and stare’ at a beautiful object of nature. The love for material things has made us blind to natural beauty.

We have made ourselves detached (cut off/separated) from Nature. We are every time busy in earning and spending money. We have no communion with Nature. He means to say that God has created Nature for all the creatures on the earth. So Nature belongs to us and we also belong to Nature. We cannot afford separation from it. If it happens, harmful effects on the earth can be felt or seen.

Man has become slave to the god of money, Mammon. All the diseases and mental discomforts are due to our love for material things. As a great worshipper of Nature, the poet appeals to all of us to give up Mammon-worship and start loving Nature.

To prove his love for nature, the poet declares that the Pagans in ancient times lived a healthier life. It is because they were always connected to nature. They were nourished in the lap of nature. So, all qualities of head and heart, like patience, love, peace, hard work, etc. automatically got imbibed into their personality. This is the reason why the poet wishes to become a pagan and have glimpses of gods of nature.

Q3.How does Wordsworth employ Greek mythology and other devices to portray the materialistic mind of modern man?

Ans. After reading and understanding the poem, we all come to know how William Wordsworth feels hurt to see his fellow Christians getting too much attached to materialism. They have started wasting much of their time and energy in earning and spending money. In this way, money has become a curse for them. It is the root cause of all of their ailments.

To depict the materialistic mind of the modern man, the poet uses Greek mythology. He tells us how in ancient times the Greeks used to believe in Pagan gods. They believed and loved every object in nature. They used to have glimpses of Pagan gods like Proteus and Triton rising from the sea. He uses beautiful imagery from Nature to make the readers feel and think how nature blesses every human heart.

 

The poet creates a very beautiful word picture using the personification of the sea and the moon. The poet uses a straightforward image of the sea in female form exposed to the view of the moon. The second image that emerges in the poet’s mind is that of the winds huddled together like sleeping flowers. The poet uses a simile of sleeping flowers for the winds that have now huddled up together as if in the position of sleeping.

  In the end, the poet declares that he would prefer to be a Pagan rather than be affected by the growing materialism in the world. He would be ready to renounce his religion ‘Christianity’ which advocates for only one God. He would like to follow the religion in which Nature is worshipped.

Q4. The poet prefers paganism to worldliness. Discuss.

Ans. William Wordsworth’s love for Nature is known to all of us. He wrote so many poems to show his great love for nature.

In this poem, his immense love for Nature makes him announce that he would prefer to be a pagan rather than being a believer of a religion that restricts (stops) him from loving gods of nature, like Proteus and Triton.

In ancient Greece and Rome, people believed in so many gods and goddesses. So they were called Pagans. But in Christianity, only one God is worshipped. Nature is also blessed with them in so many ways.

The poet further says that people of his times have become slaves to materialism. They have stopped loving nature. They have detached themselves from the beauties of nature.

   The poet does not want to become too much lost in materialism. The poet also declares that he would like to be a Pagan than to continue following the outdated religion in which he was brought up. He would not stop loving nature even if his religion forces him to do so.