The World is Too Much With Us

This poem by William Wordsworth reflects the attitudes of Romanticism mainly by rejecting classical forms and beliefs and praising the beauty of nature. During the Renaissance and Restoration, people did not see nature as something of great importance. People did not see the beauty in nature, but during the Romantic period poets wrote about the unity between nature and humans. In this poem William Wordsworth discusses how people are ignoring the beauty of nature and he is criticizing it. He writes that as a society "we lay waste our powers". He means that they have all of this beautiful nature right in front of them, but they waste their ability to see it because they live such busy lives. He goes on to describe the beauty in nature. For example, he says the "sea bares her bosom to the moon". He personifies the sea by giving it a human characteristic. Not only is it a human characteristic, but the word bosom promotes the idea of beauty to people. This is so intelligent because people can identify with that idea, even though now it describes the sea. Wordsworth goes on to say that for ignoring this great beauty "we are out of tune". Instead of writing about something heroic or a great achievement of a noble man, Wordsworth writes about something to be frowned upon. The poem does not bring about inspiration or excitement, but rather is a bit of a disappointment. This poem fits right in to the historical context of the Romantic period. The Industrial Revolution began and urbanization occurred. Wordsworth noticed that with all the hustle and bustle people payed little attention to the beauty of nature that was in fact disappearing due to urbanization. This literary piece reflects the themes and attitudes of Romanticism as it criticizes the modern society for failing to see the beauty of nature. It rejects the former topics of poetry during the Renaissance and Restoration and instead focuses on a problem of the society and the beauty of nature that is being ignored.