The Contrast of Wordsworth and Levertov

The Contrast of Wordsworth and Levertov

When one reads both Levertov’s “O Taste and See” and Wordsworth’s “The World is With Us too Much” a general assumption is made. Most people think that

these poems are of opposing subjects, yet as people read they begin to grasp that the poems are not as far off as one would assume. In both poems the “world” that the authors are referring to is that of the material items in the society of their times and even ours today but Levertov’s also speaks of the “world in a different way.

Man since his civilization has tried to live in the most advanced materialistic society possible and Wordsworth, who loved nature was writing about this and how his society needed to get back to nature and be weaned from their materialistic culture. His whole poem speaks of how our material items get in the way of our respecting and acknowledging nature. “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours;” (Wordsworth). In this statement Wordsworth is talking about materialism and how we waste all we have and have completely ignored the greatest treasure we have- nature.

In Leverotov’s “O’ Taste and See” Levertov writes about things of nature and even concludes her poem saying “living in the orchard and being hungry; an plucking the fruit.” With this comment one would assume that she is talking about being in nature and the joy derived in finding refreshment in receiving from it. She also talks about other natural things such as tangerines and the weather. Her vivid imagery paints mental pictures of nature and its gifts to us. Levertov speaks of not spending enough time enjoying the simpler pleasures