Class 11 & 12 Reading Poem No-18 The World is Too Much With Us(100 Words Subjective/Objective Solved)

Read the poem and answer the questions that follow:

The World is Too Much With Us

William Wordsworth

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; 5

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; 10

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 wreathed horn.

Choose the correct alternatives from the options given below:

(a) The line ‘The world is too much with us’ means

 (i) man is too involved in materialistic pursuits

(ii) man is not connected to his inner self

 (iii) man is not connected to nature

 (iv) all the above

 (b) By saying that ‘we are out of tune’ the narrator means

(i) That we cannot hear the music that is a part of nature

(ii) That man is leading a disharmonious life which leaves him dissatisfied

 (iii) That man is leading a fulfilling and satisfying life

(iv) That man is unable to appreciate the beauties of nature

Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:

 (c) According to the narrator, how do we waste our powers?

 (d) What does the narrator mean by saying that ‘little we see in nature that is ours’?

(e) What according to the narrator have the human’s given their hearts to?

(f) What does the narrator prefer to do?

(g) What does the phrase a ‘creed outworn’ mean?

 (h) According to the narrator, what are the sights that would uplift his heart?

Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:

(i)disgusting/base (lines 1-5)

(j) nurtured (lines 8-11)

ANSWERS:-

 (a) (iv)

(b) (iv)

 (c) According to the narrator, we waste our powers in our materialistic pursuits and have lost the ability to appreciate nature and be a part of it.

(d) The poem illustrates how we have alienated ourselves from nature. As such, we do not see things in nature that we can appreciate. This can also mean that since we are obsessed with material gains and manmade objects, we cannot appreciate things in nature that we cannot buy or own.

(e) According to the narrator, we have given away our hearts in exchange for wealth and riches.

 (f) The narrator says he would prefer to be a pagan tied to a worn-out system of belief.

 (g) The phrase “creed outworn” with reference to paganism implies that this religion is regarded as a primitive or outdated one.

 (h) The sight of Proteus rising from the sea or of Triton blowing his wreathed horn would uplift the narrator’s heart.

 (i) Sordid.

(j) Suckled.

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