Nature and the Free Flow of Emotion

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Recommended: Treatment of nature in poetry

William Wordsworth said, “Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher” (Brainy Quote). According to the poet, we can gain all the knowledge necessary in life from nature. Wordsworth’s poem, “The World Is Too Much With Us,” can best be interpreted to mean that people have become too wrapped up in worldly things and have lost all appreciation for what nature has to offer.

William Wordsworth was born April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland in England’s Lake District which is why he is known as one of the “lake poets” of the Romantic Era. He lost his parents at a very young age and lost touch with his sister, Dorothy, because of it. Wordsworth was a very intelligent man who received his education from St. John’s College, Cambridge and later, Durham University and Oxford. Afterward he went on a walking tour in France where he was inspired by the French Revolution. When he returned to England he was reunited with his sister and became friends with another great romantic poet, Coleridge. The two poets met often and eventually wrote Lyrical Ballads (Everett, Biography).

Wordsworth devoted his work to nature and the free flow of emotion which he called the “real language of men” (Fralin, Poetry Analysis). In “The World Is Too Much With Us,” Wordsworth appears to be speaking out against almost everybody during the Industrial Revolution. In an analysis of the poem, Szczepanski states that, “Wordsworth laments that people have come to view nature as a source of material wealth rather than as a good in itself” (Poetry Analysis). He criticizes them for focus more on “getting and spending” (2) and not on a connection with nature. Fralin’s interpretation of the poem is that Wordsworth was standing on the shore and yelling ...

... middle of paper ...

...ng oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity” (Brainy Quote).

Works Cited

"William Wordsworth." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2012. 27 February. 2012.

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Fralin, GK. "Poetry Analysis: The World is Too Much With Us by William

Wordsworth." Author's Den. AuthorsDen.com, 01 Dec 2008. Web. 27 Feb 2012. .

Everett, Glenn. "William Wordsworth: Biography."Victorian Web. VictorianWeb.org, 01 Jul

2000. Web. 27 Feb 2012. .

Szczepanski, Beth. “Poetry analysis: The World is Too Much with Us, by William

Wordsworth.” Helium. Helium.com, 16 Nov 2011. Web. 27 Feb 2012.

.

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