Saturday, September 6, 2014

In "The World Is Too Much With Us," what are the glimpses that make the poet “less forlorn”?

Having established his central theme in the first half of
the poem, that by avariciously pursuing material well-being and possessions we have
placed a barrier between ourselves and Nature, Wordsworth changes the tone of the poem
towards the end, saying boldly that he would rather be a pagan than lose himself to the
continual thirst for money and possessions. In Wordsworth's thinking, pagans had a far
healthier relationship than the people of his time, respecting and worshipping nature.
Thus advocating their creed would enable him to have "glimpses" of Nature in all its
majesty that would enable Wordsworth to become "less forlorn" than he is at the moment
when he feels he is cut off or divided from Nature. Note how the mythological references
of the last two lines reinforce this idea:


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Have sight of Proteus rising from the
sea;


Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed
horn.



Note how the use of
mythology here dramatises the connection to nature. These deliberate allusions create a
desire for a time when people were in greater awe of nature and lived "in tune" with
it.

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