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The World Is Too Much With Us Romanticism

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Romanticism is a style of art or literature during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasizes a love for nature, distrust of society, organized religion, celebration of the child or individual, and emotion over reason. In William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much with Us” Wordsworth speaks about how society is so materialistic while speaking on the significance of nature. Ironically the title of this sonnet exemplifies one of the Romantic ideas and expresses one of Wordsworth’s main points regarding nature. Wordsworth uses a connection to nature as well as religion to emphasize Romanticism in his work. “The World Is Too Much with Us” represents societies absent connection with nature. Right off the bat, Wordsworth repeats the title of this poem to emphasize a Romantic element. The first couple of lines begin with Wordsworth stating that the modern world is losing the battle to materialism. "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" (Wordsworth 2-4)! In an …show more content…

Wordsworth expresses his desires to be a pagan. Wordsworth relates spirituality with the importance of nature. Wordsworth reads, “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” (9-12). This further supports Polytheistic Religions as they support a separate god for each element of nature and his extreme wish to be a Pagan. Wordsworth’s desire to be a Pagan allows Wordsworth to see Ancient Gods and achieve spiritual condolence. Wordsworth considers two gods, “Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;/ Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn” (13-14). Proteus who is able to change his shape to his desire and Triton having the ability to control the waves of the sea by a horn proved the importance of changing and having a relationship with

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