William Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us” is a Romantic Sonnet that can be broken into two parts. The speaker tells us in the first part that we have lost our connection with nature, and that that connection was one of our most important relationships. The speaker the goes on to tell us that that he is willing to sacrifice everything to recover this relationship, and begins on line 9. In romantic poems, the speaker tries to convince us of our flaws, in this case our skewed relationship with nature, and convince us to change our ways.
The speaker in Wordsworth’s poem is no different in this respect, and utilizes shock to grab our attention and really get us to notice just how serious he believes this problem is. Although he uses multiple types of shock in this poem, his willingness to reject the major religions of the day is clearly his most affective. Wordsworth was one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in poetry, and his works became an outline for what Romanticism was all about. This movement was one that was trying to change society, and bring them back in touch with their feelings and nature. The Columbia Encyclopedia went as far as calling it, “revolt against the prescribed rules of classicism.” This means that the romantic thinkers and poets were trying to convince their audience that their old ways were wrong because they neglected what was truly important, and get them to change their ways. As Rader put it, “In the richness of its values and range of its ideas this is a large poem, although it numbers only fourteen lines.
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It is what Matthew Arnold called ‘a criticism of life'” (Rader 203).
This means that “The World is Too Much With Us” is a very deep poem, criticizing the situation in which the speaker lives, and clearly trying to evoke a response. In order to do this, however, they first had to get them to pay attention to their arguments. This is one place that shock was found to be an important tool. There are two main uses for shock in poetry, to get the audiences attention or to support your point. Wordsworth uses shock to get the readers attention three different times in “The World is Too Much With Us.” The first way he utilizes shock is by going against the normal use of nature in Romantic poetry.
In most Romantic poems, nature is portrayed in a gentle light. Usually, the speaker is trying to show nature in a better light so as to make it more desirable to the audience. Wordsworth, however, shows both sides of nature. He does show nature as gentle when he talks about “sleeping flowers” (7) and when he talks about the “Sea that bares her bosom to the moon” (5).
He talks about nature as frightening and dangerous when he says that “The winds that will be howling at all hours” (6).
This shows not only the fury of nature, but when contrasted with more gentle images, the speaker shows the versatility and inclemency that comes with nature. This helps the audience to trust the speaker more, because he is being honest about nature, and adds to the future shock of his embracing it. Another way involves the structure of the poem. Being an Italian sonnet, the poem is supposed to break into two different sections, the first being eight lines and the second being six. While Wordsworth does break his poem into two parts, he does it midway through the ninth line.
Although this may not mean much too us, but scholars and other well read people of his day would notice this immediately. He does this because a main theme of this poem is to break away from the rules governing society, and he is clearly doing that with the structure of the poem. The other two uses deal with the language and content of the poem. The other also occurs on line 9 where the speaker curses in the middle of the line proclaiming “Great God!” Cursing like this was seldom heard in public back then, and was certainly not common in poetry.
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This is done again to try to get the reader to listen closely to what follows. The third and most important use of shock occurs on lines 9 and 10. Wordsworth’s speaker says, “I’d rather be / A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn” (Wordsworth 9-10).
This line represents both uses of shock. The thought of anything being more important to a person than his religion was very shocking to most people of his time.
This statement is used to grab the reader’s attention because it makes them wonder what on earth could be more important than religion. This leads into what is saying on the next line and also makes his audience pay more attention when he answers this question by saying: 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.” (11-14) These four lines drive home his argument from the first part of the poem by tapping into the biggest structure in people’s lives, religion, and telling them that he would reject it just to regain that lost relationship with nature. The speaker here is using shock both to grab the audience’s attention, and to support his argument. This, I feel, is the most important and most effective use of shock available. Religion was definitely the right institution to reject in Wordsworth’s time, especially since nationalism was another important aspect of Romantic literature (Columbia Thesaurus).
Because of this, religion and spirituality were common topics in his poems.
“Wordsworth on occasion seeks to structure belief, traditionally structured in the social sphere by dogma and participation in group ritual, through the private act of poetic composition” (Easterling 9).
This means that Wordsworth was using his poetry as a means of expressing his spirituality, instead of the more traditional ways such as group prayer and mass. This breaking away from religion is an important theme in his works, and helps to define the Romantic Era. The key factor to consider when deciding whether or not this was a good approach is just how affective his poetry was.
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In Wordsworth case, shock worked very well. In fact, despite his unconventional thoughts, or perhaps because of them, Wordsworth became a major spiritual leader in England in the early 18 th century. “Thomas Pringle likened Wordsworth to Samuel” (Gill 40).
Samuel was a religious figure who preached about the sins of Israel in the Old Testament.
This allusion means that the people of England saw Wordsworth as a prophet of sorts, and that by following him they could find true spirituality. It is a very big claim to say that God chose Wordsworth to spread his message, especially in those days, but it was not just the opinion of one man (Gill).
Wordsworth, however, seemed to have a spirituality that was above religion, making his rise to fame that much more unusual. Among the biggest reasons that shock value worked for him was his popularity. The fact that every religion saw him as one of their own gave legitimacy to his opinions. As Stephen Gill put it, “Quakers thought him a Quaker.
Anglo-Catholics saw him as one of themselves” (Gill 40).
This, I think, also added to the shock of him rejecting religion. It also, however, added to the seriousness with which they took him. Most people would not listen to a person who didn’t share their religious or spiritual beliefs when they are talking about religious matters. The fact that he is one of them makes people both want to listen to what he is telling them and to examine their own consciences more seriously than they would any one outside of their beliefs. Results really are the best way to tell whether a particular method being used is good or not.
Wordsworth was definitely able to achieve great results despite his controversial message. It was because he was able to make people see his side that he became the spiritual leader that he did, and is now recognized as the founder of a poetic movement, and a literary visionary. Shock may not have been the method of persuasion he used most, but I feel that it was his most affective.
