Text 24

Scorn not the Sonnet, Critic, you have frowned,

Mindless of its just honours; with this key

Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody

Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound;

A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound;

With it Camoens soothed the exile's grief;

The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf

Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned

His visionary brow; a glow-worm lamp,

It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land

To struggle through dark ways; and, when a damp

Fell round the path of Milton, in his land

The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew

Soul-animating strains – alas, too few!

One of the famous specimens of Wordsworth's dignified manner is the sonnet published in 1807.Understanding of this sonnet requires concentration of thought (Text 25). The main idea, a weighty and serious one, is enunciated in the opening line (The world is too much with us), and there is a new aspect of the idea in almost every line. The sonnet is the poet's reproof to his contemporaries and at the same time it is a deeply emotional lyrical utterance. That, in itself, is a striking achievement of Romantic poetry: it presents things of universal moment or appeal as though it were an intimate concern of the poet. The misfortune of modern men, according to Wordsworth, springs from being too much wrapt up in material cares, in again, profit and money-making.