Though short, The World Is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth left a lasting impression. This poem written in the 1800’s deals with a subject that is very much apart of our postmodern society. We as humans have taken nature for granted abusing its resources. We have made poor choices in our consumption of these precious resources, failing to work with sustainable options that would benefit nature and future generations.
“Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers”, this quote has been ingrained in my mind forever as it is a central issue in human history. It is in our nature to be destructive and ever consuming in our quest for power. Ironically we still have not grasped the concept that in the destruction of nature and others we lose “resources” and in turn we lose that power.
Wordsworth’s poem is in search of a time that no longer exists, when human had a connection to the land (nature). This leads me to wonder what his thought process was in seeing the modern world unfold into an industrialized culture, one that is so far from nature. What a hard thing to swallow as you realize that the world will never go back to a time of simplicity, where we could have that connection with nature. Living in a post-modern society, I feel that this issue has come to the attention of most people. In an effort to save ourselves from this abuse of nature we have taken steps to preserve our world. But has this realization come at a point where it is to little to late?
