Paving The Way Of The World

2 Pages 545 Words

The speaker in William Wordsworth’s poem “ The World Is Too Much with US ” is a man who is not pleased with the way people take advantage of the world. He claims that we are too wrapped up in material things that we can not see the natural beauty of the world. Wordsworth portrays the irritation and discouragement of the man through metaphors, apostrophe, and the different meters of the poem. He uses these three techniques to set the tone and enable us to look deeper into the poem.
Wordsworth uses metaphors all throughout the poem. The metaphors makes the poem come to life and enables the reader to get a lucid picture of what he’s talking about. The speaker says, “we have given our hearts away, a sordid boon”(4). He is referring to our hearts as the one true thing that nature has given as a blessing. Our hearts are a blessing that we have allowed to corrupt by thinking of the world materialistically. The speaker also makes reference to the world when he says, “ the winds that will be howling at all hours/and are now gathered up like sleeping flowers” (6-7). He means that the world is continuous and strong, never ceasing to end even though we do not notice it.
Wordsworth uses apostrophe as well to portray the feelings of the speaker. It is almost like he is standing in front of a crowd of people making a speech. “ Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers” (2). He says it as though he is telling them, including himself, what they are guilty of. Then he says, “ for this, for everything, we our out of tune” (8). The speaker continues to use the word “we” to let the people know that they are not the only guilty party; everyone is responsible.
To end it all, Wordsworth uses the different meters to set the tone of the speaker’s voice. In line one, “The world is too much with us; late and soon,” he iambic pentameter. It allows the reader to hear the tone in his voice. He a...