Naturalism In Stephen Crane's Poetry

Stephen Crane and William Wordsworth are two authors who base many works of theirs on the idea of Naturalism. Naturalism is a literary movement in the nineteenth century that suggests the environment shapes human character. Wordsworth’s and Crane’s literary works contrast to prove that an individual’s viewpoint on the natural world depends on their own experiences with naturalism. Wordsworth sustains an optimistic tone within the compilation of his poems he has written. Two primary examples of his poetry would be: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “The World Is Too Much with Us.” In these two poems, he briefly discusses how comforting parts of nature are as well as how he feels less alone when in the midst of the natural world. He further …show more content…
Many individuals, however, do not have this positive perspective when it comes to nature because they do not take the time to stop and appreciate the natural world around them. In “The World Is Too Much with Us,” Wordsworth talks about how society is so preoccupied with consumerism that many believe nature has nothing to offer us. Individuals have this idea that since we cannot own nature, or obtain it, that it is essentially irrelevant. Therefor much of society has lost touch with nature and its’ importance. Regardless of this, Wordsworth yearns for change. He begins by stating how he wished he were a pagan believing in some “creed outworn” which essentially is just an older religion (“The World” 9). This unveils how the narrator wishes he were born in another time period where others actually saw what was right in front of them rather than not valuing it at all. People actually stopped to appreciate nature in earlier time periods because they had less distractions and materialistic things to obtain. After Wordsworth realizes his own place in nature, he sees just how grand nature truly is. He can only hope that one day persons within society will do the