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Question

Difficulty: MediumTone, Voice, and Speaker Persona

Read the following poem carefully before answering the question.

The World Is Too Much With Us (1807)

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.

Which of the following best describes the development of the speaker's voice over the course of the poem?

  1. A transition from a weary lament over humanity's spiritual apathy to an impassioned declaration of personal yearningAnswer
  2. B
    A consistently detached and scholarly critique of modern industrialization
  3. C
    The poet's autobiographical confession of his own moral failures in worldly pursuits
  4. D
    A progression from peaceful appreciation of natural beauty to a scientific explanation of pagan mythology
  5. E
    A shift from a literal defense of pagan religious practices to a metaphorical rejection of natural phenomena

Answer

A transition from a weary lament over humanity's spiritual apathy to an impassioned declaration of personal yearning
The speaker begins by diagnosing a collective societal failing—humanity's estrangement from nature due to consumerism ('Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers'). This establishes a weary, critical lament. In the final lines, signaled by the exclamation 'Great God!', the speaker's voice shifts to a passionate, personal outcry, expressing a willingness to adopt an obsolete pagan belief system if it means feeling a connection to the natural world and escaping his sense of isolation ('make me less forlorn'). Therefore, the voice moves from a collective lament to an individualized, emotional yearning.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the first eight lines (the octave) to identify the speaker's initial stance and tone.
The speaker laments that humanity is 'out of tune' with nature, wastefully consumed by materialism ('Getting and spending'). The tone is critical, weary, and diagnostic of a collective societal failure.
Establishing the starting point of the speaker's voice is necessary to trace its development and recognize any subsequent shifts.
2
Analyze the transition starting at line 9 ('Great God!') to determine the speaker's shift in attitude.
The speaker makes a sudden, emotionally charged exclamation, declaring a preference for obsolete paganism if it would allow him to feel a spiritual connection to nature and ease his isolation ('make me less forlorn').
Identifying shifts in syntax, exclamation, and pronoun usage (moving from 'we' to 'I') reveals changes in the speaker's voice and emotional intensity.
3
Synthesize the two parts of the poem to describe the overall progression of the voice.
The speaker's voice moves from a weary, collective social critique to a passionate, highly personal cry of isolation and desire.
Synthesizing the analysis leads directly to the correct description of the tone shift, which matches the option describing a transition from a weary lament to an impassioned declaration of personal yearning.

Key Concept

Analyzing tone shifts and speaker voice in poetry
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Tone, Voice, and Speaker Persona

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