The World is Too Much With Us

You may be familiar with William Wordsworth's poem, "The World is Too Much With Us."  It is a poem about the loss of wonder and imagination in a fast-paced, secular world.  In an eighth grade Advanced class, students lifted the first two lines of this classic and then developed it into a poem about the materialism they observe in the world around them.  This linked to their study of the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451.  Collin V., an eighth grader, wrote the following poem, using Wordsworth's first two lines. 

The world is too much with us, late and soon.
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,
Going to the grocery store to buy meaningless flowers.
Everyday our spending grows, it towers.
We waste our time in buying junk.
It piles up like useless gunk.
We think it's fun,
What we should shun.
Getting and spending we lay waste our power,
Mindlessness grows, and our wallets cower. 

Collin V., eighth grader

P. S.  One student commented during class, "Is Wordsworth his real last name?  It's no wonder he became a poet!"  While we can't reveal Collin's last name, we can tell you it has quite a poetic ring to it too!

drawing by Josephine D.

Two Poems Inspired by A Master

After reading Fahrenheit 451 by the great Ray Bradbury, eighth grade students drafted stories or poems inspired by the symbols in their reading.  Here are two poems.  Appropriately, one is about books, and the other one is about a river, an image introduced at the end of the novel to aid the protagonist in his escape.

For rough drafts, they are substantive and solid.  Suggest revisions in your comments!

Poem 1, Untitled

perfectly yellowed,
dusted with history,
printed in stiff, official ink,
stone to stone,
clock to clock,
books are timeless
with powerful plots

these pieces of literature
dictatorships in disguise,
bombs on a timer,
counting down,
till knowledge explodes
causing confrontation,
opposing views

books are power
held in your hands,
fed to the fire
when causing pain,
good or evil
left in the eyes
of the beholder

Madeline T., eighth grade


The River

Slow, steady, and graceful,
it takes away the fears,
the pain, the destruction,
of a long lost soul.
It provides a new chance
to those of the broken
like old abandoned towns,
rebuilt into a city of hope.

No longer shall the expressionless faces linger,
no longer shall blank, dull bodies live.
New life is brought with every sway
of each stroke of the river's tides.

Follow the river
dear friends of mine,
stay true and open,
and always kind.
You'll find your way
of hope and peace.
Follow that riverbend,
and don't ever stray.

Emily J., eighth grade

sketch by Julia B., eighth grade