-Wordsworth
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!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
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 wreathed horn.
Thesis:
Through this poem, the speaker states that he is willing to stray from his Christian beliefs in order to reacquaint himself with the nature from which society has detached itself.
In this poem, the speaker refers to Proteus and Triton, both from Greek mythology, in foretelling the changes in his life that will occur after he re-familiarizes himself with his natural surroundings. Proteus is said to possess psychic powers, but changes his form in order to escape having to foretell the future. He is associated with flexibility, versatility, and adaptability—all traits that are inaccessible without the incorporation of nature into a lifestyle. In stating that he will see Proteus rise from the sea, the speaker implies that the positive traits associated with Proteus will be bestowed upon him in response to his acceptance of nature. According to Greek mythology, Triton is the messenger of the deep. In the last line of the poem, the speaker looks forward to Triton rising from the sea and blowing his “wreathed horn”. This horn is used to create or eliminate waves in the ocean, and, when blown, the sound is like that of a wild beast and instills fear in the brutish giants, causing them to flee. This relates to the speaker’s view of the relationship between religion and nature in that Triton’s horn is a person’s partial separation from religion, while the giants are those who solely rely on the Christian God to show them the ideal way of life.
In this poem, the speaker refers to Proteus and Triton, both from Greek mythology, in foretelling the changes in his life that will occur after he re-familiarizes himself with his natural surroundings. Proteus is said to possess psychic powers, but changes his form in order to escape having to foretell the future. He is associated with flexibility, versatility, and adaptability—all traits that are inaccessible without the incorporation of nature into a lifestyle. In stating that he will see Proteus rise from the sea, the speaker implies that the positive traits associated with Proteus will be bestowed upon him in response to his acceptance of nature. According to Greek mythology, Triton is the messenger of the deep. In the last line of the poem, the speaker looks forward to Triton rising from the sea and blowing his “wreathed horn”. This horn is used to create or eliminate waves in the ocean, and, when blown, the sound is like that of a wild beast and instills fear in the brutish giants, causing them to flee. This relates to the speaker’s view of the relationship between religion and nature in that Triton’s horn is a person’s partial separation from religion, while the giants are those who solely rely on the Christian God to show them the ideal way of life.
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