Caribe in Nueva York

William Wordsworth wrote about losing touch with nature in his poem, “The World Is Too Much with Us.” He depicts his “reverence for nature” when he brings back the ideology that the strength and power of the sea is a god-like force in his reference to Proteus and Triton. He claims that humans once had a bond with nature that during the Industrial Revolution in England is slipping away. Pure forms of nature no longer move the human heart. Wordsworth deeply regrets this claiming, “I’d rather be / A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn.” In this statement, Wordsworth asserts he would rather remain close to nature than follow the trends of civilization and society.

The poem “Caribe in Nueva York” written by Nathalie Handal is set in the materialistic and industrial world that Wordsworth so hated. However, while the narrator does not so boldly dislike the city, she to misses nature. In this case, she misses the nature that is well known to her; she “dream[s] of mangoes,” “can’t forget the sun on [her] back,” and “dream[s] of la tierra / where we were born.” She appreciates the city and the opportunities it has to offer, “we are spoiled here,” but she misses the nature that is most well known to her.

Both poems pay homage to nature. Wordsworth focuses on nature in comparison to the industrial societies of England, while Handal writes about nature in the narrator’s home versus nature in New York. I find it interesting how similar these two poems can be, yet still have such drastically different viewpoints. In the first, Wordsworth mourns the public’s loss of the appreciation of nature. In the more contemporary poem, the melancholy author contemplates the loss of her own, more personal nature.