NCERT Class 11 English Elective The World is too Much with Us

The World is too Much With Us

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! The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The Winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered 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.

UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

1. Why does the poet prefer to be a primitive Pagan rather than a member of civilised society?

2. What, according to the poet, are human beings out of tune with? 

TRY THIS OUT

1, Compare the organisation of this sonnet with that of the sonnet by William Shakespeare.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 English Elective The World is too Much with Us