Love of Nature

The World Is Too Much With Us--Wordsworth

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.

     Even though we looked at this poem in the very beginning of class, Wordsworth has had a real way of sticking with me throughout the whole Romantic period we've studied. He definitely became my favorite Romantic poet that we examined (although each one--Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats--is very interesting for their own individual reasons!), and I think that many of the topics Wordsworth focused his poetry around are still relevant today. I guess that is what I wanted to focus this blog around: the themes in this sonnet that still speak so strongly to me today. 

 

     One of the greatest things about literature (being an English Lit major, I'm pretty nerdy about it) is the way it continues to speak to readers even centuries after it was written. In my opinion, that is one of the things that makes a certain book or poem great literature, whether it can transcend time and still be meaningful in different contexts than it was created. I don't think Wordsworth will ever go out of style because Nature (I'm being Wordsworthian and capitalizing it!) is so enduring and constant.   

     In this sonnet, I saw there being themes about not only Nature, but also materialism, our consumer society, and a loss of connection with the world in general. Just listing them all makes me realize how even more pertinent these ideas are to our society today than they were in Wordsworth's time. We live in a time when "getting and spending" (2) is the most important thing, and most people don't even realize how much they're giving up--family time, seeing the world, or happiness in general--in order to keep up and get ahead in the capitalistic society of America. A quote from the Dalai Lama comes to mind regarding this subject. When asked what surprises him most about life he said, "Man.  Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived." What an accurate description of the life most Americans are living today.

     Wordsworth, I think, sees a deep connection between the human soul and the soul of Nature. We are meant to go together, hand in hand, and being obsessed with money and "stuff" gets in the way of this horribly. A love of Nature and a love of material goods just do not go together. I'm reminded of the Native Americans who had an intimate relationship with Nature and lived completely off the land. They were able to appreciate Her beauty and goodness, move around wherever they wanted because they were not drowning in "stuff", and I believe that they lived healthier and happier lives than we are able to now. "We have given our hearts away" (4) in America today, and I think this disconnect from Nature is hurting us greatly. It's difficult though because the more materialistic we become, the more we stay indoors and sit in the house all day. But the more we become disconnected from Nature, the more material goods we believe we need to be happy. It's a vicious circle.

     I think Wordsworth sums it up best when he simply states, "...we are out of tune" (8). I have to remind myself constantly to not get caught up in the materialism of the world, especially when I am so lucky to live in this beautiful place. I like to believe that if Wordsworth lived today, we would be great friends and kindred spirits. His love and reverence for Nature is truly inspiring to me, and I think his words resonate strongly in the backwards-thinking society we live in today.