563. The World is too Much With Us by William Wordsworth
W Wordsworth read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\n\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\n\n---------------------------------------\n\n The World is too Much With \nby William Wordsworth (1770 \u2013 1850)\n\nThe world is too much with us; late and soon,\nGetting and spending, we lay waste our powers:\nLittle we see in Nature that is ours;\nWe have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!\nThe Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;\nThe winds that will be howling at all hours,\nAnd are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;\nFor this, for everything, we are out of tune;\nIt moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be\nA Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;\nSo might I, standing on this pleasant lea,\nHave glimpses that would make me less forlorn;\nHave sight of Proteus rising from the sea;\nOr hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.\n\n\nFirst aired: 4 May 2008\n\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\n\nReading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2008