"I'd rather be/ A pagan suckled in a creed outworn."-who is Pagan?Why does the speaker want to be a Pagan in Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much With Us"?
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Wordsworth's Poetical Works Questions
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"I'd rather be/ A pagan suckled in a creed outworn."-who is Pagan?Why does the speaker want to be a Pagan in Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much With Us"?
A pagan is a non-Christian. It would be too literal to think WW means to say Christianity has failed, but instead, he means pagan to mean separated from his world. He is willing to go back in time to a "creed outworn" - an old way of thinking, one that has been given up by the modern world - if it means he can be closer to nature. He thinks modern humans have given up on nature and he'd rather give up his place in their world than keep living the wrong kind of life.
A pagan is anyone who is not a Christian, reminiscient of the times when the worshiping peoples were more in touch with nature. The whole point of the poem is that we have grown away from nature and have lost more contact with what is really important in the world. There is no question that we are too focused on worldly matters and completely away from what should matter to us according to Wordsworth.
As Wordsworth was the highest priest of nature,he composed all his notable poems such as Solitary Reaper, Tintern Abbey, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud etc.revolve around the basic theme of importance of being in the vicinity of nature. For Wordsworth 'Nature' was the anchor of his purest thoughts and was the nurse, the guide and guardian of his heart and soul.
The stanza quoted above is from Wordsworth famous sonnet 'The World is too much with us. Wordsworth was frustrated with the materialistic tendency of city people, who were slowly but surely losing their touch with divinity i.e. with Nature. They were wasting their power on getting and spending and were becoming blind to healing power of Nature, which especially at that point of time(after-effect of French Revolution) was so important for their general well being. Therefore in disgust Wordsworth says the above mentioned lines, that he would rather be a pagan or non believer in Christianity, who is in a complete state of disillusionment, and is attached to a worn out system of beliefs or superstitions. This way as a pagan he might be able to see things that would make him less unhappy and he can enjoy the sight of pagan gods such as Proteus and Triton. The tone here is definitely satirical, and it is mainly because Wordsworth wants people to return to pure and simple country life and enjoy the true spirit of Nature. For Wordsworth God and Nature were in commune with each other.
The stanza quoted above is from Wordsworth famous sonnet 'The World is too much with us. Wordsworth was frustrated with the materialistic tendency of city people, who were slowly but surely losing their touch with divinity i.e. with Nature. They were wasting their power on getting and spending and were becoming blind to healing power of Nature, which especially at that point of time(after-effect of French Revolution) was so important for their general well being. Therefore in disgust Wordsworth says the above mentioned lines, that he would rather be a pagan or non believer in Christianity, who is in a complete state of disillusionment, and is attached to a worn out system of beliefs or superstitions. This way as a pagan he might be able to see things that would make him less unhappy and he can enjoy the sight of pagan gods such as Proteus and Triton. The tone here is definitely satirical, and it is mainly because Wordsworth wants people to return to pure and simple country life and enjoy the true spirit of Nature. For Wordsworth God and Nature were in commune with each other.
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