The
World Is Too Much With Us
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
1807
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;
We
have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This
Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The
winds that will be howling at all hours,
And
are upgathered
now
like sleeping flowers;
For
this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It
moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A
Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
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 wreathèd horn.
NOTE:
"The World Is Too
Much with Us" is a sonnet by the English
Romantic poet William Wordsworth. In it, Wordsworth criticizes the world of the First Industrial Revolution for being absorbed in
materialism and distancing itself from nature.
“In-Class”
Writing Prompt: Monday, October 12th:
In a
topic-driven, well-developed paragraph, make a connection between the “glass
half empty” critics of the technology that has birthed social media and
Wordsworth’s concerns about the human cost of the First Industrial Revolution.
Be specific. Reference Carr and at least one other critic in your response.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
The World Is Too Much With Us is a poem about the effects of the busy world and how that relates to us. William Wordsworth states that, "Little we see in Nature that is ours." Nature is supposed to be a peaceful setting where people can reflect and have quiet time. The busy world has taken over that quiet time. Because of technology, "The natural state of the human brain, like that of the brains of most of our relatives in the animal kingdom, is one of distractedness." We never have time to stop and smell the roses. Similarly, Sherry Turkle talks about how the busyness and obsession with texting has negatively influenced our ability to have conversations with other people. She says, "At home, we can create sacred spaces..." The times without a device is the same as being able to sit down and enjoy nature's beauty.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “The World is Too Much With Us”, is about how we do not take the time to look at everything going on around us. We are constantly busy with things happening in our lives and we never take the time to see what’s happening around us. The poem is slightly negative because he is talking about how we don’t see that work for what it is. This kind of goes along with critics very of technology. They choose to see more negatives about the subject than positives. Carr and Turkle are great examples of these critics because they both agree with technology and see how it has helped but think it is causing more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Wordsworth, a lover of nature and an influential environmentalist, begins his poem "The World Is Too Much With Us" with the idea that the technologies introduced by means of the First Industrial Revolution added a lot of complexity to the world. It gave in too much information for us to comprehend without losing some. Thus, we sacrificed our "powers" to keep up with the changing world or as Sherry Turkle says in her TED talk we wish to be "connected to all the different places they want to be". Wordsworth's idea of admiring and spending time in the nature to overcome sadness, anger, or frustration is what Franzen advises in his article: "Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts" . He says that when we think of problems in life, we will be overwhelmed. But if we engage in interaction with "real people, or even just real animals, there’s a very real danger that you might love some of them". Also, after the completion of Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" we can say that Carr mainly fuels Wordsworth's idea that the rapid growth in technology is a little too much for us to comprehend all at once but we can't let go of things, thoughts, and people we need.
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, “The World Is Too Much With Us”, by William Wordsworth, he is saying how we are getting lost in the real world and not using our resources and what we already have. Wordsworth says, “Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” He is referring to the fact that when we see nature we don’t actually take the time to admire it, or when we see a huge field, there is so many things that we could do with it, but all we see it as is a field. He also says we have given our hearts away. He means that we don’t put as much heart and work into something like we used to. Technology is a big reason because of this now. Since technology has come about, we have stopped using our bodies and mind to accomplish something. In Carrs book, “The Shallows”, he talks mainly about how technology is overcoming us and how it is making such a big impact on our world we are now and how it is changing us dramatically. Also Franzen speaks on the topic of if we continue to letting technology get in the way of our everyday lives, then we won’t have the opportunity to get out in life and find love and happiness.
ReplyDeleteIn William Wordsworth's pessemstic poem' "The World Is Too Much With Us," the tone is almost apprehensive for the fact that nature and man are not connected. This idea that 'the world is too much,' as far as the technology conversation goes, is more on the half glass empty. Like Carr, who explains how technology is taking us over, Wordsworth explains how "Little we see in Nature that is ours..." (3). This circulates the idea, like in technology, that we are just not in tact with 'reality.'
ReplyDeleteThe internet may seem to be an amazing, controllable interface that is expanding and encouraging growth to us as humans, but is it really that simple? In the Shallows by Nicholas Carr, he quotes, “The Web provides a convenient and compelling supplement to personal memory, but when we start using the Web as a substitute for personal memory, bypassing the inner processes of consolidation, we risk emptying our minds of their riches.” We are living in a world that is so determined and eager to expand that we are losing the ability to do things we once could. William Wordsworth states in his “The World Is Too Much With Us”, “We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon”. This “sordid boon” is us thinking that we are expanding and generating more and more but really we are degenerating the quality and culture of the human race. A double edged sword if you will. Both Carr and Wordsworth realize that the internet isn’t all that it seems and we need to be more aware of what we are doing. Wordsworth describes that he would rather believe in a “pagan… creed outworn” than continue to degenerate our culture and mindset.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that we are absorbed so much in ourselves and our technology is echoed in William Wordsworth poem "The World Is Too Much With Us". Just like Carr this author believes that we become absorbed with ourselves as of late and we don't even notice. Carr believes this comes from the overuse of technology but the author of this poem never says why he believes this to be true. Carr believes we become too absorbed he says "We use the web as a substitute for personal memory" this idea is saying we use the web to help us recall personal memories.
ReplyDeleteIn William Wordsworth's poem "The World Is Too Much With Us" he describes how humans and nature are no longer connected. In Carr's book "The Shallows" he talks about how our connection to technology has allowed us to lose our grip on reality and on ourselves. "... We're so quick to attribute human characteristics to our computers and computer characteristics to ourselves" (Carr). The way Wordsworth describes nature can also relate to Franzen and how we are shortchanging ourselves. The Internet has made us fearful of interaction and judgement in the real world.
ReplyDeleteIn William Wordsworth's poem' "The World Is Too Much with us," the author elaborates on the fact that the human world is not connected to nature like it once was. “We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon” Wordsworth states. The boon he is referring to is the human’s misinterpretation of technology. We believe that it is infinitely good and powerful when infect its ruining our culture and lifestyle. Carr states in his book that “The Web provides a convenient and compelling supplement to personal memory.” He understands that the internet can be beneficial to humans if used correctly however also treacherous if used incorrectly. Both Wordsworth and carr understand that the internet is not all it is hyped up to be and in fact can be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteIn William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much With Us", he is disappointed in humans. We get the privilege to live in a beautiful, amazing world, yet we don't even appreciate it. In his words, "it moves us not". He doesn't understand how we could become so distracted by "getting and spending" that we don't have time to unwind and spend time just taking in the beauty of nature that God has given us. 200 years later, we are still struggling with this. We have found new ways to "lay waste our powers…", the main concern of novelist Nicholas Carr being the Internet. Call reveals in his book "The Shallows" that "During the course of the day most of us… Spend at least a couple of hours online…" (116). If Wordsworth were still around, he would be appalled… and probably on the Internet just as much as us. The sad truth is that this is so common that most people have just excepted that that's just the way it is. But maybe we should take some advice from Wordsworth and spend some time away from the chaotic busyness of life and just unplug- literally.
ReplyDeleteWithin the poem "The World Is Too Much With Us" composed by William Wordsworth, a familiar theme of being distant and oblivious to reality is strung throughout his poem. Wordsworth is describing the era of the Industrial Revolution and how humans get so caught up in the machines and the industrial world that we forget the important things and miss opportunities to interact with the natural world. Coupled with Wordswroth's theme, this topic has been recently readdressed by Nicholas Carr in his book "The Shallows". Carr references how us humans are so indulgent with technology that it is hindering the ability to complete natural tasks such as "deep reading" and "critical thinking". Another scholar who agrees with Carr and Wordsworth is Sherry Turkle. Although instead of composing literature, she expresses her point through a Ted Talk. Within her Ted Talk she believes states that humans are so connected and plugged in that we often "short change" ourselves. The unfortunate reality to this is the fact that they are right. The world is becoming so connected in the technology that we are often unconnected when it comes to the natural world. This is shown relevant then and now.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem "The world is too Much with us" by William Wordsworth, correlates to Nicholas Carrs the shallows in some ways of human misunderstanding relating to outside factors, mainly technology. In William Wordsworths poem he states that people have given there hearts away to something that is supposed to be positive, but to the extent in Carrs "The Shallows" the sordid Boone is technology and how we as humans have given part of ourselves to it. But to this extent humans have overlooked technology and yet Carr and Wordsworth state in their writing that the glamor and accessibility of technology is thought to be something benevolent it can and in facts is in some cases a malevolent action in some ways humans are partaking in
ReplyDeleteIn William Wordsworths poem “The World Is Too Much With Us” he illustrates how there is a lack of connection between nature and man. He says, “Little we see in Nature that is ours…”. This lack of connect with the world around us can be partially blamed on technology and all of the distractions that come along with it. Nicolas Carr explains in his book “The Shallows” just a few costs of spending too much time on technology. He says, “The division of attention demanded by multimedia further strains our cognitive abilities, diminishing our learning and weakening our understanding” (129). Not only do we lose the ability of deep thinking, we also lose the connection with nature that Wordsworths wishes we could have.
ReplyDelete