Wordsworth Homework

                The poem ‘The World is too much with us’ by William Wordsworth is about greed and about people in a developed society not appreciating nature. The poem is well written but also lacks an answer to the problem that William Wordsworth is saying, which leaves the reader agreeing but in the end feeling like a therapist with a whiny patient. Not to mention that he depicts pagans as a lesser people by saying he would rather be a pagan then a greedy person as if to get a reaction from the reader of “wow being greedy is worse than being a pagan, he must really feel frustrated.”

                The poem starts off with the proclamation that the earth could do without us and that we waste our “powers” on materialistic endeavors and that we are selling ourselves short. The poem continues with his proclaiming how the moon, sea and wind are in harmony and that we are not by saying” for this, for everything, we are out of tune.” Then William Wordsworth continues by saying how he would rather be a pagan then be unappreciative of nature. The truth is I personally would rather be a Pagan than a Christian any day of the week; especially Sunday. But interestingly William Wordsworth goes on to describe what he could appreciate if he were a Pagan saying “Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn, which comes off poetic and beautiful almost making me feel like “damn, maybe I should be a Pagan.”

                William Wordsworth’s ‘The World is too much with us’ makes its point and invokes the cunning use of sarcasm but at the same time comes off as slightly bigoted and whiny as he offers no closure to the problem he is claiming the world has. Not to mention again the slight towards Paganism.