LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 7 July 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Materialism and Ecological Views of Wordsworth

Asha Jain, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

Man’s andocentric aspiration and selfish exploitation of nature has brought our planet into much danger. It has created a fatal situation by devastating and despoiling its resources and biosphere. Gross materialism has forced it upon each and every human being it to strive to save our environment. It has become the urgency of our age to protect our biosphere, its diversity and its autonomy. Natural disasters such as tsunami, earthquakes, volcano, hurricane, pandemic, cosmic and uv radiation, and the collision of comets have enforced the human society to think about the significance of the preservation of nature for human survival. The consequences of lack of respect for nature are greatly disastrous; it has brought calamities such as global warming, deforestation, extinction of species, reduction in ground water, desertification, destruction of the ozone layers and many others. It has forced us to realize that healthy and respectful attitude towards nature is necessary. These disasters resulting from lack of stewardship of natural resources have warned us that any more disrespect shown against nature will leave us wailing, and lamenting.

Now the world could expect three to five major disasters a year, each of which might kill more than fifty thousand people. These results have forced us to think about nature seriously, and to make it an integral part of academic domains. Eco-criticism is an emerging field that has been gaining importance rapidly. It is the study of man’s relationship with his environment. This research paper presents the introduction of Ecology along with the ecological crisis and the solutions that are suggested in Wordsworth’s poem “The World is Too Much With Us.”

Key words: Wordsworth, Materialism, Ecology, Nature, The world is too much with us.

Introduction

Wordsworth was one of several “romantic” poets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He does not approve of the sordid pursuits of life. He wants human beings to keep away from the life of vain materialism. This sort of life is neither useful to the individual nor good for the society. In his sonnet ‘The World is Too Much with us’ the poet expresses his resentment against the life of materialism.Wordsworth is lamenting about society’s need and greed for money and things. He was not the first poet or author to lament man’s disrespect for nature. William Wordsworth the great lover of nature opposes gross materialism in this poem. The industrial age was bringing in steam locomotives, machines and factories and Wordsworth’s world was facing the crisis of Industrial revolution. He felt that man was being brought up on a destructive lifestyle that eventually leads him to the harmful situations in life. The poet’s world was facing the evil effects of the Industrial Revolution where he saw the danger of industries. He saw the harshness of the Industrial Age, and he predicts that man will destroy nature. Two centuries later, today, Wordsworth’s predictions have been proved true. Man’s materialistic ambitions born of the Industrial Revolution are translated into today’s greed and the growing ignorance of the finite realities of nature.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Mrs. Asha Jain, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.Candidate
Assistant Professor of English
Swami Vivekanand Govt. P.G.College
Neemuch (M.P) 458441
Madhya Pradesh
India
ashajain1968@gmail.com
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