William Wordsworth Group

Question:

annyt
annyt
Student
College - Senior

How does William Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much with Us" compare to Rousseau's "Confessions?"

What are their comparisons to their periods?

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Posted by annyt on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 6:27 PM and tagged with comparing lit., literature.

Answers:


  1. akannan Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    I would suggest that Rousseau's idea of "man is born free, but lives in chains" is critical to understanding the relationship between both thinkers.  Rousseau and Wordsworth share a fundamental belief that social orders have twisted the potential and capacity for goodness within individuals.  Rousseau believes that the preponderance of amour de soi, an unhealthy type of self love that sees consciousness through the eyes of another and thus constantly unsettled, has led to conformist realities that deny the truly great essence of individuals.  His railing against social orders and their twisting of individual nature can be seen in much of "Confessions."  At the same time, Wordsworth feels that the conformity caused by materialism and inauthenticity has similarly twisted any hopes of individual goodness.  This can be seen throughout the poem, which is more of a call to flee the existent social setting.  While seen as an Enlightenment thinker, Rousseau shares many of the sentiments of the Romanticist Wordsworth.

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    Posted by akannan on Sunday December 27, 2009 at 6:00 PM