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READ THIS
The poet bemoans the fact that the modern industrial age has divorced us from nature. We lay
waste our powers, he says, in the busy but futile effort of making money. He, on the other
hand, would rather resort to ancient religious cults if they would re-unite him with the god of
nature.
NOTE ON THE POET
William Wordsworth was born in 1770 at Cockermouth in the heart of the Lake District. His
early childhood was therefore spent in one of England's great wild places, playing in the hills
around the lakes. This memory would be immortalised within his many poems.
His mother died when he was eight, and his father when he was 13. Although he was left
almost destitute, his uncles helped the family through the crisis.
Wordsworth himself would be sent to school at Hawkshead, a small market town where the
young boy would further his love of the countryside. What's more, the little country school
which he attended encouraged him to develop his poetic talent.
Upon leaving school, Wordsworth attended Cambridge University to study law but, although he
obtained his degree, the poet had little interest in legal matters. His heart was in the wild places
which became the centre for his poetry.
He was eventually able to settle in the country where he became close friends with the great
poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The two would collaborate for many years.
Wordsworth himself became a prolific writer of nature poems. Indeed, so great did his
reputation become that he was made Poet Laureate in 1843.
Wordsworth eventually died in 1850 at the age of 80.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Wordsworth has often been described as a Pantheist.
[Need help?]
A Pantheist is a person who believes that God lives in nature, or that Nature itself is a goddess.
It comes from the words "pan" which means "the whole world" and "theist"
which means "a believer in a god". So a pantheist believes the world itself is a god or
goddess.
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- Are Wordsworth's pantheistic tendencies revealed in this poem? (10)
[Need help?]
To determine whether or not Wordsworth's pantheistic tendencies are revealed in this poem,
you need to examine carefully how the poet treats nature. Notice, for instance, that he uses
the upper-case N when he speaks of Nature in line 3. Is he merely personifying nature, or is
there something deeper than this, i.e. Nature is a goddess?
Notice too that the poet says that "we lay waste our powers". What powers? Does a
devotion to Nature give us real powers? Does it charge us with the powers of the universe --
powers which we lose by a devotion to materialism?
There also seems to be a division in this poem between Nature which is a good and powerful
goddess, and materialism which is an evil god or demiurge.
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"The World is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers."
- Do you agree with the poet when he says, "The World is too much with us"? Give
reasons for your answer. (10)
[Need help?]
Essentially you need to sum up whether the pursuit of wealth and/or materialism is a good or
a bad thing. Wordsworth indicates that it is bad, indeed an evil. Do you agree with him?
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- What powers is the poet referring to when he says, "We lay waste our
powers"? (4)
[Need help?]
Wordsworth appears to be saying that a devotion to Nature empowers us, while a pursuit after
materialism diminishes us. He is hinting that it is more than just the healing powers of rest and
peace but rather that we gain real power by becoming one with the universe.
Today this idea is being revisited in modern psycho-philosophy. One need only read such
books as Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success to see how a very
influential modern thinker believes that we become both spiritually and materially enriched if we
allow ourselves to flow with the universe.
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"We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"
- What does the poet mean when he says, "We have given our hearts
away"? (4)
[Need help?]
Wordsworth is clearly looking at the world of materialism. To "give out hearts away"
implies a selling of one's soul, a turning towards the dark side.
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- Why does he say that this is a "sordid boon"? (4)
[Need help?]
Since materialism is the dark side, it therefore represents something that is dirty, sordid,
disgusting -- a world of sin, a following after the god of the underworld. It is therefore a
"sordid boon". Opposed to this is the world of Nature which is pure and holy -- a world
of righteousness.
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"It moves us not."
- These words clearly mark the end of the Octave. Why then does the poet place these
words within the first line of the Sestet? (6)
[Need help?]
The theme of the Octave is that mankind has followed materialism and its love of money and
luxury. We have lost our appreciation for nature. His argument is summed up in the words
"It moves us not" -- although these words physically form part of the Sestet.
In the Sestet, the poet states his determination not to follow the route of his fellow men into
materialism but to remain close to nature. In a sense, however, the words "It moves us
not" does indeed form part of this argument as well. Because the world of materialism
"moves us not", the poet is able to conclude in the Sestet that he would rather abandon
Christianity and all that goes with it in order to find real meaning in life.
So the words "It moves us not" forms part of the argument in the Octave -- but also
leads us into the argument of the Sestet.
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