Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Jan. 21 Culture and Identity

"The World is too Much with Us" by William Wordsworth
This poem reprimands society for its materialistic nature. It describes our culture as shallow and wrongfully entitled.
"Little we see in Nature that is ours" argues that man does not own the earth, yet man egotistically believes so. I believe this is further exemplified by the capitalization of "Nature," marking it as its own entity. Furthermore, "getting and spending, we lay waste our powers," describes how we misuse our money and efforts to exploit resources. And finally, "Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;/ or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn" diminishes the audience into inconsequential beings who nonetheless have brought about unspeakable damage to the environment. 

"Identity Card" by Mahmoud Darwish
I selected these two poems because they both deal with issues I feel passionate about. Quite simply, I am drawn to their messages. Both of the poems rebuke society, but for different reasons. "The World is too Much with Us" is about our ambient and the destruction man has brought upon it, while "Identity Card" is about racism and classism. 

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