Know Then Thyself (Summary)

 

                This poem is an extract from Pope’s famous poem ‘Essay on Man’. In these lines, the poet tries to define a man. The poet argues in the opening lines that human beings should learn to look at themselves instead of trying to scan God. The proper study of mankind is the man himself. Pope wants to say that man has to learn about his own nature, powers, limitations and weaknesses.

            Man is a curious paradox. He is placed between divinity and animality. He is a mixture of opposites. He is wise as well as ignorant. He is civilized as well as rude. He is ‘darkly wise’ and ‘rudely great’. He has much knowledge yet remains doubtful. He is full of meekness but behaves like a stoic. He is a slave to his passions. He does not know whether he should deem himself a god or a beast. He remains in doubt whether he prefers his mind or his body. His instinct and impulse are not the same. He is born to die. He reasons to err. His logic is ignorant. He thinks either too little or too much. His reasoning is imperfect. There is much confusion in his thoughts and passions. He is created half to rise and a half to fall. In other words, he has godly as well as animal qualities. He is the great lord of all things yet becomes victim to these. He is the sole judge of truth but commits endless mistakes. Truly man is ‘a glory, jest and riddle of the world’.       

            In these lines, Pope has exploited his poetic craftsmanship remarkably. He states beautifully that man is a subtle mixture of opposites and fails to strike a balance in his thoughts and passions. Binary oppositions like thought-passion, rise- fall, lord – prey, glory – jest, etc. make this poem very interesting.

The World is Too Much with Us (Summary )

 

In the very beginning of the poem, the poet says, “The world is too much with us.” It suggests that we are giving our attention to the world and are leaving nature behind. We are busy in earning and spending which, according to the poet, means wasting our powers. We do not acknowledge nature for what it has to offer. Instead, “We have given our hearts away” to which the speaker calls a “sordid boon.”

The sea still shows her bosom to the moon, the wind still howls at all hours, and clouds gather make beautiful scenes. But unfortunately, we are not in tune with nature i.e. we do not fit into nature. The speaker claims that such natural happenings no longer touch us because we perceive nature only in terms of commodity values. As a result, the speaker wishes to become a pagan with outworn creed so that he could stand on natural meadows and feels less lonely which means escaping from the commercial world. By doing so, he hopes to see an extinct sea creature, Proteus, and hear old Triton blow his horn.

In this poem, ‘the world’ refers to the civilization which has come forward by ignoring nature. ‘Getting and spending’ for which ‘we lay our powers’ means activities that take place in an industrial world. For Wordsworth, the world is not as great as ‘Nature’ but we do not tend to see natural gifts. In the fourth line of the poem, Wordsworth calls industrialization a sordid boon because this process involves the destruction of Nature.

William Wordsworth’s poem The World is Too Much with Us carries the themes of industrialization, loss of spiritual connection between nature and human beings, destruction of nature, loss of spiritualism.

·         Industrialization – Wordsworth published his poem, The World is Too Much with Us in a period when industrialization was rapidly growing. Due to the industrialization, human beings have shifted their focus from spiritualism to consumerism.

·         Loss of spiritual connection between nature and human beings – According to Wordsworth, spiritual connection between nature and human beings no longer exists. It is because industrialization has taught them to see nature in terms of consumer values.

·         Destruction of nature – Industrialization directly affects nature. For instance, the speaker can no longer see a Proteus and hear a Triton blow its horn.