Romanticism

William Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us” uses a shift from past renaissance traditions and through the use of language and ideas reflects the themes and ideas presented by Romanticism. The Renaissance period which ended only a little while before focused upon the individual and the study of the dominance of the human character along with other humanitarian ideas. Romanticism however began to show many new thoughts and ideas that were not only different from the renaissance, but also apart from the restoration. Rather than focusing on the individual and perfection, Romanticism focuses upon nature and emotions as its leading characteristics, even over rationality.
Wordsworth in his poem, rather than focusing on the ideal image or an imaginary situation, puts his focus directly on humans, being one of the first to stray from the norm, and also criticizes humans rather than lifting them up. Wordsworth telling us that “we have given our hearts away”, criticizes humans and tells the reader that we no longer have our hearts nor our rationality. The idea he presents which furthers that thought, is his idea that we as humans do not “see in nature that is ours”, nor give nature the credit that it deserves. His accusation shows a huge difference in what he pioneered as a writer, rather than what the previous renaissance writers said. Rather than praising the human, he tells us that we don’t give nature the credit that it deserves and nearly presents nature as an even more powerful force than the human race itself because we have “given our hearts away”. Wordsworth continues his talk about nature being a strong force by saying that the “sea bares her bosom to the moon”. With Wordsworth’s shift from the norm, to recognizing nature rather than humans, he shows a certain sense of irrationality. Rather than focusing on the way humans live he stresses the importance of nature which even though is alive, does not have a “heart” like he makes a claim that humans have lost. Even though he makes the claim humans have lost their heart, can he prove that nature even has a heart? He did not accomplish that which makes some of his claims irrational. Overall his poem shows a strong sense of romanticism not only in the way it stresses the importance of nature, but also in the way it loses focus upon humans and shifts it to irrational ideas.