Wordsworth's Tone

Tone

Before creating his theme, William Wordsworth crafts a tone that shifts from frustration to anger. To establish his tone, Wordsworth applies two details in the poem. In line 1 of the poem, the speaker states, “The world is too much with us; late and soon”(ln. 1). The speaker feels an infuriating sense because we are too caught up with materialism in the world. It has been a problem of the past and will continue to be a problem in the future as long as we keep giving ourselves to earthly acts. To reveal more aggravation, the speaker states “Little we see in Nature that is ours” (ln. 3). The speaker is emphasizing his disappointment by saying that we are too caught up with our daily habits that we forget to notice nature’s beauty. We hear

Wordsworth argues that society neglects nature. He demonstrates this using literal imagery. The speaker states, “So might I, standing on this pleasant lea/, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn” (ln. 11-12). Wordsworth uses literal imagery to show that the speaker is frustrated about society neglecting nature. He feels it would be better to go back to the ideology of the Greeks and give a sense of love and gratefulness to all things in nature. Later in the piece, Wordsworth furthers his claim using complex personification. The speaker states, “This 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” (ln. 5-7). Wordsworth uses complex personification to show that nature is giving society signs of its distress. The Sea, “bares he bosom to the moon” which implies that nature is there, waiting for us to appreciate her beauty. He uses this example as an encouragement to readers to reconnect with nature. These examples prove that society neglects