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WORDSWORTH'S "THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US": A SOURCE?

The article explores the parallelism between "The World Is Too Much With Us," a sonnet written by William Wordsworth, and the 18th century poem "An Invocation to Melancholy," by Henry Headley, and examines whether Headley's poem can be regarded as a source of Wordsworth's sonnet. It relates how both...

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Published in:English Language Notes Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 192 - 195
Main Author: Shawcross, John T.
Format: Article
Published: Duke University Press Mar70
Subjects:
Invocation to Melancholy, An (Poem)
World Is Too Much With Us, The (Poem : Wordsworth)
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850
Headley, Henry
Sonnet
Lyric poetry
Parallelism (Linguistics)
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:The article explores the parallelism between "The World Is Too Much With Us," a sonnet written by William Wordsworth, and the 18th century poem "An Invocation to Melancholy," by Henry Headley, and examines whether Headley's poem can be regarded as a source of Wordsworth's sonnet. It relates how both Wordsworth and Headley laments the loss which the crassness of fame forces upon man. The author suggests that Wordsworth probably had read Headley's poem around 1786. The sonnet was written by Wordsworth before 1807.