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Critical Appreciation Of William Wordsworth

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Author Background: Born April 7th 1770 in Cockermouth, England, William Wordsworth grew up without his mother after the age of 8, and he grew to love poetry at the Hawkshead Grammar School. Wordsworth revolutionized literature with his philosophy that humans become more corrupt as they get older, losing their naivete in their perception of the world and nature around them. Wordsworth was one of the most influential nature poets in England, and he worshipped nature in his poems as a more superior entity for humans to learn from and look up to. Paraphrase: The world is too overwhelming for us to appreciate. We waste our powers on earning and spending and we overlook the value of nature. We have sold our hearts away and see nothing in …show more content…

Structure: This poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, and while it also consists of 14 lines, unlike a Shakespearean sonnet, a Petrarchan sonnet consist of an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines). While there is no official rhyme scheme for a Petrarchan sonnet, this poem has a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA in the octave and CDCDCD in the sestet. The octave in this poem identifies a greater issue with the faults in people’s obsession with materialism, and it shifts in focus to the sestet, in which he declares his own actions of giving up on humanity. The rhyme scheme of the poem puts emphasis on words ending in an -oon sound, which creates a rhythm and bridge between all his examples of how humans are losing touch in nature. This rhythm is further enhanced by the parallelism comparing “This Sea” to “The winds” and between Proteus and Triton, which are all references to nature. Lines 1-8 of the first octave introduce the issue of this disconnection with nature, suggesting his hopelessness in humanity, and he conveys this tone of helplessness through words such as “lay waste” and “howling”. During this octave, he emphasizes the sea, winds, and flowers of nature in order to emphasize the things people have began to neglect. The tone shifts when it reaches 9-14 of the sestet to less emphasis on nature and more on his personal conflict, accepting the outcome of humanity, and he uses this section as closure for himself, resolving his own

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