The World is too Much with Us
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!
This 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 wreathèd horn.
About the Poet
William
Wordsworth was born in 1770 and died in 1850. He was the most fortunate of the
great five romantic poets, who had a long poetic career and lived a long span
of life. He was a great worshipper of Nature.
About the Poem
In this poem, he laments that human beings have become more attached to material things. He
expresses his deep concern over people’s growing love for worldly things. Man
has become a slave to the god of money, Mammon. He appeals to all of us to give
up Mammon-worship and start loving Nature. At that time, industrialization had
just started showing its impact on human minds.
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!
Word-meanings: 1. The world: here it means love for material things 2. Late and soon: every time 3. Getting and
spending: while earning money and spending it 4. Powers: energy and potential
5. little: very less/nothing 6. sordid: mean, abhorrent, detestable, hateful
dirty 7. boon: the thing that is helpful
or a blessing for us
Paraphrase: In this stanza, the poet makes a
strong case against all of us for our growing love for material things. 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. The poet has
used the possessive pronoun ‘ours’ for 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.
In our love for material things, we are
wasting our time and energy. The poet calls material things a ‘sordid boon. He
uses a paradox to explain what material things are in reality. Sordid
means detestable, that is hateful. The word ‘boon’ means a blessing or a
thing that is very helpful and beneficial for us. If a thing is beneficial for
us, then how can it be hateful and mean?
Actually,
the poet has used ‘too much in the title of the poem ‘The World is too much
With Us’. We have a clue here to explain the meaning of the paradox ‘sordid
boon’. It seems that the poet does not have much objection to people’s limited
love for material things. Then it is a boon for them. But when they have
crossed limits and got too much involved in their love for material things,
then it becomes sordid. Hence the meaning of the paradox is ‘a sordid boon’.
This 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.
Word-meanings: 1. Bosom: the front of a person’s chest 2. Bare:
without any cover like clothes 3. Howl: basically a wolf or a dog produces a howling sound. It is a long and sad sound. Here the poet wants to use this word
for the sound created by the blowing of fast winds. 4. Up gathered: means
huddled: This position is achieved when one keeps one’s legs and arms together
5. Out of tune: In music, the person is out of tune when someone sings or plays an instrument ignoring the rules of notes. People are not following nature, so
they are out of tune. They are not in harmony with nature. 6. It moves us not:
The poet wants to say that natural beauty does not move our emotions. We do not
feel attracted towards Nature and its beauties.
Explanation: In the above stanza, 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.
It is all symbolic. The
sea has been shown as the symbol of Mother Nature.
The second image that
emerges in the poet’s mind is that of the winds huddled together like sleeping
flowers. Usually, winds blow strongly throughout the day. They cause so much
discomfort to creatures on the earth. But at night they become calm and quiet. The
poet uses a simile of sleeping flowers for the winds that have now huddled up
together as if in the position of sleeping. The use of the word ‘howling’
creates an imagery of animals like wolves and dogs. But the imagery ‘sleeping
flowers’ softens the impact of the violent winds in the reader’s mind.
“For
this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It
moves us not.”
The poet says that people do not feel moved not only by the
beautiful scenes described by him in the previous lines but also by all other
beautiful scenes. They are now in disharmony (out of tune) with Nature.
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 wreathèd horn.
Word-meanings: 1. A Pagan: A follower of the ancient religion
of Rome in which people believe in many gods and goddesses 2. Suckled: nourished, brought up 3. Creed: faith, dogma 4. Outworn: out-of-date, obsolete 5.
Lea: pasture, open area of grassy land
6. Glimpse: a short view 7. Forlorn: alone and happy Proteus: Triton: wreathed horn: It is a conch–type horn used
for blowing to produce a deep sound
Explanation: After depicting beautiful
word-pictures of the rising sea waves producing the image of Mother Nature to
the view of the moon and also of the winds that remained violent throughout the
day and towards the evening sleeping peacefully, the poet proceeds further to
declare his choice. He declares that he would prefer to be a Pagan rather than
be affected by the growing materialism in the world due to the first phase of industrialization
in England. 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. This stanza reflects Wordsworth’s deep love for Nature.
Thus the lines ‘Great God! I’d rather be/A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;’ means
that he would like to be a Pagan than to continue following the outdated
religion in which he was brought up.
“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 wreathèd horn.”
The poet imagines himself standing on
some open green piece of land near the sea that would have glimpses of the
ancient Greek and Roman mythical gods Proteus and Triton. Proteus would be seen
emerging from the sea and Triton would be blowing his curled conch-like horn.
In this way, he would not feel lonely and sad at all in the company of Roman
and Greek gods.
Dear
students, here this poem ends up; I shall come with a new poem next time
and till then have a nice day.
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