Complete Summary and Solutions for The World is too Much With Us – Woven Words NCERT Class XI English Elective, Chapter 5 – Summary, Explanation, Questions, Answers
A sonnet by William Wordsworth expressing concern about humanity’s disconnection from nature due to industrialization and materialism. The poem features mythological references to Proteus and Triton, conveying themes of loss, nature’s beauty, and a yearning for a simpler, more connected existence. This chapter includes detailed NCERT questions, answers, and exercises for Class XI
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The World is too Much With Us - William Wordsworth | Woven Words Poetry Study Guide 2025
The World is too Much With Us
William Wordsworth | Woven Words Poetry - Ultimate Study Guide 2025
Introduction to Poetry - Woven Words
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings beyond the prosaic. It often employs meter, rhyme, and figurative language to create emotional resonance. In Romantic poetry, like Wordsworth's, nature serves as a spiritual guide, critiquing industrialization and materialism.
This sonnet exemplifies the 'story of sentiment,' focusing on the poet's inner turmoil and longing for harmony with nature. Unlike narrative-driven poems, it prioritizes emotional insight over plot, using compact form to distill profound discontent.
The sonnet form imposes brevity, mirroring the poem's theme of spiritual waste from excess worldly engagement. Wordsworth's work bridges neoclassicism and Romanticism, emphasizing simplicity and directness.
William Wordsworth spent most of his life in the Lake District of northern England, where wandering hills and woods inspired his finest nature poetry. Co-author of Lyrical Ballads (1798) with Coleridge, it marks the English Romantic Movement's start. He favored rustic subjects and simple, natural language for poetry.
Wordsworth viewed poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings," recollected in tranquility. This sonnet critiques modern alienation from nature, yearning for pagan vitality.
Major Works
Lyrical Ballads (1798, with Coleridge)
The Prelude (autobiographical epic)
Poems like 'Tintern Abbey,' 'Ode: Intimations of Immortality'
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.
Notes
Pagan: A person whose religious beliefs do not belong to any of the main religions of the world.
Proteus: A character in Greek mythology who had the gift of prophecy but who, when questioned, would assume different shapes to elude their grasp.
Triton: A sea-deity in Greek mythology, who is generally represented as blowing a shell, his body above the waist being that of a man, below it of a dolphin.
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Poem Summary: English & Hindi (Detailed Overview)
English Summary (Paraphrase & Themes)
The poet laments modern humanity's over-absorption in material pursuits ("getting and spending"), which squanders our innate powers and severs connection to nature. We overlook nature's gifts—like the sea's moonlit exposure or winds' wild energy—yielding hearts to a "sordid boon" of commodification. Out of sync with the world's rhythms, the poet invokes God, preferring pagan mythology's vivid communion: glimpses of Proteus or Triton's horn would alleviate forlornness, restoring spiritual attunement.
Themes: Alienation from nature, materialism's spiritual cost, Romantic idealization of pagan vitality vs. industrialized ennui.
हिंदी सारांश (संक्षिप्त)
कवि आधुनिक मनुष्य की भौतिकवाद ("प्राप्ति और व्यय") में डूबे रहने पर शोक व्यक्त करता है, जो हमारी शक्तियों को बर्बाद करता है और प्रकृति से अलगाव पैदा करता है। हम प्रकृति के उपहारों—चंद्रमा को उजागर करने वाले समुद्र या हवाओं की ऊर्जा—को नजरअंदाज करते हैं, हृदय को "घिनौने वरदान" के रूप में सौंप देते हैं। दुनिया की लय से असंगत, कवि ईश्वर को पुकारता है, पुरानी मिथकीय आस्था में पगान बनना पसंद करेगा: प्रोटियस के दर्शन या ट्राइटन के शंख से उदासी मिटेगी।
विषय: प्रकृति से अलगाव, भौतिकवाद का आध्यात्मिक मूल्य, पगान जीवंतता का रोमांटिक आदर्श।
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Form & Structure: Sonnet Analysis
Overview
Petrarchan sonnet: Octave (problem: materialism's waste) + sestet (solution: pagan longing). Iambic pentameter, ABBAABBA CDCDCD rhyme. Volta at line 9 shifts from lament to preference.
1. Why does the poet prefer to be a primitive Pagan rather than a member of civilised society?
Answer:
The poet yearns for paganism's unmediated awe of nature, untainted by civilized materialism. Modern society ("getting and spending") alienates us from nature's "powers," rendering us "out of tune." As a "Pagan suckled in a creed outworn," he imagines sensory communion—Proteus's visions, Triton's horn—restoring emotional wholeness ("less forlorn").
This preference critiques progress's spiritual cost: Pagan myths embody holistic reverence, contrasting Christianity's abstract detachment and capitalism's commodification ("sordid boon"). Wordsworth romanticizes antiquity for its vitality, echoing Romantic primitivism.
Ultimately, it's a plea for reconnection; paganism symbolizes innocence lost to urbanization, where "little we see in Nature that is ours."
2. What, according to the poet, are human beings out of tune with?
Answer:
Humanity is discordant with nature's rhythms and sacred energies: the sea's lunar vulnerability, winds' "howling" to "sleeping flowers." Materialism wastes our "powers," blinding us to these "ours" gifts.
"For this, for everything, we are out of tune"—encompassing cosmic harmony (moon/sea) and elemental cycles (winds/flowers). The exclamation "It moves us not" underscores numbness to nature's sublime.
Thematically, this disharmony reflects Romantic anxiety: Industrial age severs pantheistic bonds, leaving hearts "given away" to sordid pursuits.
Talking about the Poem - Discussion Prompts
Discuss in pairs or small groups
1. Modern life echoes Wordsworth's lament: Are we still 'out of tune' with nature amid climate crisis and digital distraction?
Discussion Points:
Consumerism's "getting and spending" parallels fast fashion/social media; nature's "sordid boon" in pollution. Explore: Eco-anxiety as modern pagan yearning?
Digital alienation: Screens block "glimpses" like Proteus; discuss mindfulness apps vs. true immersion.
Solutions: Urban greening, pagan revival (e.g., environmental paganism)? Personal: How to reclaim "powers" daily?
2. Mythology as escapism: Does invoking Proteus/Triton romanticize the past, ignoring its flaws?
Discussion Points:
Wordsworth idealizes pagan "creed outworn" for harmony, but myths involve violence; critique nostalgia's selectivity.
Relevance: Fantasy media (e.g., Marvel gods) as modern escapism from "sordid" reality?
Balance: Myths as metaphors for reconnection—discuss in therapy/art contexts.
Appreciation & Analysis
1. Analyze the sonnet's volta: How does it pivot from despair to aspiration?
Analysis:
Line 9's "Great God! I’d rather be" erupts post-octave's diagnosis, invoking divine exasperation before pagan fantasy—shifts passive lament to active wish.
Builds hope via sensory myths, contrasting octave's abstraction; enjambment ("standing on this pleasant lea, / Have glimpses") evokes immediacy.
Romantic hallmark: Individual revolt against modernity, unresolved yet invigorating.
2. Nature personification: How does it heighten emotional stakes?
Analysis:
Sea "bares her bosom" anthropomorphizes vulnerability, winds "howling" like grieving kin—makes disconnection intimate betrayal.
Pathetic fallacy (winds as "sleeping flowers") blends human/natural, underscoring lost kinship.
Critiques anthropocentrism: Nature's agency shames our "out of tune" passivity.
3. Relevance today: Does the poem's eco-critique hold in 2025?
