The+World+is+Too+Much+With+Us

Text questions:

1. (a) What does Wordsworth mean in his sonnet by "the world?"

When Wordsworth refers to "the world" he is refering to how materialistic we humans are; we do not focus on nature as much as we should because during this time period nature was seen as a very important thing.

(b) What does he mean by nature? Wordsworth grew up with nature it was a huge inspiration within his writing. When Wordsworth refers to nature he believes that it is more important than materialistic items and by buying those materialistic things we are actually taking away from nature and its importance to us rather than adding to it.

(c) With which aspects of nature has "getting and spending" made us "out of tune?" We are "out of tune" with " this sea that bares her bosom to the moon; [and] The winds that will be howling at all hours,"

2. Lines ( 9-14 ) express Wordsworth's feeling of idenity with the natural world that he thinks modern people lack. How do the concluding lines which refer to the ancient Pagan gods express the more imaginative relation to nature than Wordsworth desires?

The concluding lines express the more imaginative relation to nature than Wordsworth desires b/c Proteus and Triton are greek mythological gods. The image of Proteus rising from the and Triton raising the wind with his horn allow one to imagine the mythological aspects of nature as opposed to the realism of nature in which Wordsworth really would like to project.