Nature and God are the main themes in “Robert Frost poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, William Wordsworth’s poems, “The World is Too Much With Us”, and “It is a Beauteous Evening”. The poets portray the themes of Nature and God both explicitly and implicitly, exposing the reader to a variety of ways in which nature and God is synonymous.
The World Is Too Much with Us is about humans not appreciating the world. The narrator describes in the sonnet that people are overwhelmed by the world. People do not respect the world, as it should be. Some of the characteristics of the Romantic Period are people do not treasure nature, strong emotions, and supernatural.
To begin, in the poem The World is Too Much With Us, Woodsworth shows the fear of mortality. This poem states the fear of the world, and how it is taking over our minds and our bodies. The older we get, and the older this world gets the more the people in the world stop caring about important things. When money becomes your main source of happiness is when you have lost yourself. To be truly happy the things that make you happy can’t be materialistic. The Greeks thought that nature was controlled by the gods and that is what brought the people happiness. In this poem, Wordworths explains how this is a false accusation. Gupta states, “Wordsworth sincerely believed that materialism was vitiating the life of his contemporaries and as a protest against it he wrote "The world is too much with us." This poem talks about the importance of nature and how much we need it to survive. “Getting and spending we waste our powers. (Line 2)” This quote from the poem is an example of how Woodsworth states that we are wasting ourselves when we could be applying ourselves.
The World Is Too Much with Us, written by William Wordsworth in 1807 is a warning to his generation, that they are losing sight of what is truly important in this world: nature and God. To some, they are one in the same. As if lacking appreciation for the natural gifts of God is not sin enough, we add to it the insult of pride for our rape of His land. Wordsworth makes this poetic message immortal with his powerful and emotional words. Let us study his powerful style: 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! (Lines 1 - 4) Materialism, wasteful selfishness, prostitution! These are the images that these lines bring to me! Yet, is it not more true today than in Wordsworth’s time, that we are a culture of people who simply consume and waste?
Initially, More glimpses at a pack of fish swimming through the sea. She notices how they “wade” through the water, thus impacting the “crow-blue mussel-shells” in the sand below (1, 3). Moore begins with imagery of fish to represent humanity’s impact on the smaller parts of nature. Soon after, the focus shifts from the fish to the water in which they swim. She introduces the water to be made of “black jade” but later, as the sun glistens through, illustrates the waves to be “turquoise” (2, 17). This water, like all oceans, flows with the tides. However, Moore’s waves later bring a “wedge / of iron” onto the nearby cliff (18-19). Moore shifts her image of the water to convey nature’s ever-changing ways. While constantly transforming, Moore’s waves continue to endure the rhythmic motion of the ocean. But while her poem is mainly about the sea, Moore does not solely focus on it. Instead, she implies the life of the water through the lives of the creatures it impacts. Moore is able to “represent the sea formally even if she is not saying anything directly about it in the content of the poem” (Ranta). Moore’s subtleties provide a hidden significance. By her lack of direct description, Moore’s s imagery of waves explains their ultimate force upon the world— along with the world’s attempt to control it. Eventually, Moore displays a cliff on the seashore. This cliff is a “defiant edifice” by its strength against the abuse of the waves (29). Naturally, as the waves hit the cliff, the water wears away the presiding rocks. Over time, this oceanic cycle will decrease the size of the cliff. But this cliff is not only being impacted by the ocean: “dynamite grooves, burns, and / hatchet strokes” cause this stone to be “dead” (33-34, 36). Clearly, society has claimed this cliff as theirs. Humankind, with its industrialized habits, damages preexisting life. Amongst this destruction, the cliff is able to endure
Nature is an aspect of life that is conflicting. At times, its complexity serves to confuse those who try to understand its mysterious ways while at other times, its simplicity adds an element of solidarity to one’s life that is both calming and relaxing. Nature, similar to life, endures obstacles and dark times, while also shining bright in times of happiness. Nature surrounds us all and can both represent the trials and tribulations of life, but also serve as an escape from the real world. Although the healing power of nature often goes unnoticed, in Ernst Hemingway’s In Our Time, the element of nature serves to heal the wounds of emotional turmoil and provide an escape to clear one’s mind.
nature can be presented as a non-harmful presence until one realizes the opposite is true. Incorporated in this poem are many poetic devices which vary from stanza to stanza. It is important to have a general understanding of the theme and certain poetic devices from a close read of this poem.
In conclusion, it’s evident from the poems studied above that nature can be seen as the betrayer especially after the Irish Potato Famine in 1845 were approximately two million people died. Following this, people have been battling against nature to avoid such events reoccurring but without nature life would be very difficult and just as I have said there are much more different interpretations of nature than just betrayal, as there is the beauty of nature, nature’s tranquility which can be represented through other poems, songs and music.
...pt. The reader viewpoint of nature in a sense is altered, as Wordsworth is erudite about the wonders of our mother nature. One must learn to live in harmony with nature to fully understand our true character and to enjoy the gracious gifts of natural world that have so graciously bestowed upon us all.
Moreover, searching for the different mechanics in each of these poems makes it easier for the reader to analysis and interpret them. To begin, in “The World is Too Much with Us” the way the punctuation is fit into the poem is different since there are many semicolons between each line and one period suggesting that the poem is actually one long sentence. Then I believe the speaker to be someone who acknowledges that he too has lost connection with nature since he’s been preoccupied with other things in the world. This is proven throughout the whole poem since he talks in first person using the word “I.” The tone of this poem is angry, frustrated, and dissatisfied because of how the world has changed. The rhyme scheme is also another appealing mechanic here too since Wordsworth only uses fou...
Wordsworth and Hopkins both present the reader with a poem conveying the theme of nature. Nature in its variety be it from something as simple as streaked or multicolored skies, long fields and valleys, to things more complex like animals, are all gifts we take for granted. Some never realize the truth of what they are missing by keeping themselves indoors fixating on the loneliness and vacancy of their lives and not on what beauty currently surrounds them. Others tend to relate themselves more to the fact that these lovely gifts are from God and should be praised because of the way his gifts have uplifted our human spirit. Each writer gives us their own ideals as how to find and appreciate nature’s true gifts.
Wordsworth recognizes the connections nature enables humans to construct. The beauty of a “wild secluded scene” (Wordsworth, 1798, line 6) allows the mind to bypass clouded and obscured thinking accompanied with man made environments. “In which the heavy and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world, is lightened,” (Wordsworth, 1798, lines 40-43). Wordsworth observes the clear and comprehensive mindset conceived when individuals are exposed to nature. Wordsworth construes nature as a force, delving further into the depths of humans, bringing forth distinct universal and spiritual perspectives. Wonder and awe in the face of nature is awakened within even the most stubborn of minds. The human spirit becomes at mercy to nature’s splendor.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
..., nature removes his stresses of life and provides peace and comfort. The poet keeps repeating“home” to emphasize on the point that harmony can only be found and felt while at home.“oh! Leave me to myself,” the writer is all alone in nature with no one around to console him.When the writer is sad, he prefers isolating himself but being surrounded by nature which takes away his pain and sorrows. It is clear from the poem that the writer experiences some relief when surrounded by nature and it’s only in the beauty of nature the writer can spend time thinking about.The poet successfully conveys nature as harmonious
Many poets are inspired by the impressive persona that exists in nature to influence their style of poetry. The awesome power of nature can bring about thought and provoke certain feelings the poet has towards the natural surroundings.