Poesie: Wordsworth’s The World Is Too Much with Us

It is almost silly to introduce William Wordsworth, this 18th/19th century English poet who was so much in love with nature. Here is what I learned from him: He and his sister re-used their tea leaves three times before they passed them on to their poorer neighbors to use. Surely I do not need to use fresh tea leaves every time I brew tea, do I now?

The World Is Too Much With Us

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,
And 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 wreathèd horn.

~ William Wordsworth (1770-1850)