The Perfection of Nature in Wordsworth’s Poems, The World Is Too Much with Us and London, 1802

894 Words2 Pages

When William Wordsworth writes, he writes about Earth and nature. Nature is the most important thing to him; it is something to preserve and not change or damage. Writing about nature and its beauty reflects the writing era of Romanticism. The writers in that era value nature very much. Society is always flawed, and will always have something to change and fix. Nature is perfect though, and things around it need to change, to not damage it. In Wordsworth’s poems, “The World Is Too Much with Us” and “London, 1802” he writes as though he feels that the human race is corrupting the Earth and its natural beauty, and that the people need to become part of the Earth, not just dwell upon it.

In his sonnet, “The World Is Too Much with Us” through the title itself, the outlook of the whole sonnet is obvious. Clearly he thinks that people should not be on the Earth. The Earth is perfect without humans, and people destroy its natural beauty. He thinks, “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” (Wordsworth 449). He is saying that people do not own nature, it is its own self and that people have power, and they do not realize it, and with this power people are destroying nature. He is not satisfied with the decisions people have made for the Earth, and what people have done to the Earth itself. Humans have destroyed it, and humans are who need to fix it. He later writes, “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 wreathed horn” (Wordsworth 449). He is saying that he wishes he could be something of nature so he could see the sea gods. H...

... middle of paper ...

...art of society, when he writes he takes himself out of that society. He is writing about how everyone else in this society is flawed and once those flaws are fixed, then Earth will again be a perfect place to live. Without people living on it, nothing would have ever changed and Earth would still be perfect.

In his sonnets, “The World Is Too Much with Us” and “London, 1802,” there is always a flaw in something. Usually, that flaw is revealed through people or nature, and that is what Wordsworth is concerned with. He also will have a way to fix that problem, which generally is people changing to help nature. It is always written as though humans are at fault, but nature is always perfect and Godlike. In the Romantic period, nature is very important and the society always has a flaw, but nature is always perfect. The theme of that period shows through his sonnets.

Open Document