"The World is Too Much With Us"

One of Wordsworth's darker poems, "The World is Too Much With Us" was written around 1806. Even though it was written more than two centuries ago, the meaning of the poem rings true today, even maybe eerily more so. In the poem, Wordsworth condemns the materialistic world. He is disgusted by the waste and destruction of the beautiful nature around the people that was occurring daily. In society today people try more and more to call attention to the deteriorating earth exactly as Wordsworth did in this poem.

It's hard to imagine that back in Wordsworth's time, the 1800s, the people still had a problem with destroying nature and being wasteful. Materialism was another of Wordsworth's gripes with mankind back in the day. Unfortunately, I would leap to say that it's most likely gotten worse as of now. Global warming, whether you believe in it or not, has become sort of undeniable at this point. Waste and greed is a big problem  worldwide. It's just amazing to me that Wordsworth knew what he was talking about so eloquently over two hundred years ago. It's just unfortunate that not more people have heeded his message and taken the initiative to lessen their impact on the earth. Without some kind of action taken soon (or perhaps rather action NOT taken), there will be no nature left to admire as Wordsworth once did himself.

“It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”

Another of William Wordsworth's well-known poems is “It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”. Admittedly, I only ended up reading it because I felt that my paper would need another poem to be talked about. But I'm glad I ended up reading it. Not only did it help wrap my paper together beautifully, I think it's one of my new favorites by Wordsworth. The poem is believed to be about his young daughter Caroline after he meets her for the first time after ten years. It is a fourteen line sonnet with an ABBAACCA rhyme scheme. 

The most striking thing about the poem is the technique with which it is written. The first six lines are written smoothly, with soft words sprinkled throughout. It is rather pleasant and easy to read. After the sixth line, however, the words Wordsworth uses become much harsher. The poem itself becomes choppier almost instantly by the usage of exclamations and sentences ending more quickly. The unexpected turn of the poem is not unlike an abrupt churning up of a storm at sea. 
 

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is the first poem I ever read by William Wordsworth. I loved him immediately. I went on to write every essay I could about him and this poem. I was so taken by his use of nature imagery and the sweet title of the poem. Even just the main basis of the poem- you don't have to be lonely if you're alone- drew me towards Wordsworth.

"I Wandered..." is a lyric poem consisting of four stanzas in iambic tetrameter. Wordsworth wrote the poem for his beloved sister, whom he first discovered the daffodils that inspired the poem with. The poem contains much alliteration. It also personifies clouds by comparing them to a lonely human, as well as personifying daffodils by saying they are dancing.

It's undeniable that the most striking thing about Wordsworth's poem is the nature imagery. Not a stanza goes without it. Barely a line in the poem does not allude to nature in one way or another. Although the poem's title itself could sound rather like the poem was melancholy or sad, the words Wordsworth uses within makes it the complete opposite. The word "dance" is used throughout, brightening the poem. Other words generally associated with happiness- "glee", "bliss", "gay", and "jocund" are a few examples pulled from the final two stanzas.