...unknown to former times" which were "acting with a combined force" on the mind, one of the foremost was "the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where...craving for extraordinary incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies."' But it would be a mistake simply to take at face...

..."savage torpor" were "the great national events which are daily taking place, and the encreasing [sic] accumulation of men in cities, where the uniformity...craving for extraordinary incident which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies" (Prose Works, 1: 128). 11. For a powerful reading of...

...unknown to former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and, unfitting it for all voluntary exertion, to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor. . . . When I think upon this degrading thirst after outrageous stimulation, I am almost ashamed to...

...The Poems, ed. John O. Hayden, 2 vols. (London: Penguin Books, 1977), 1:867-96; here pp. 870-71. 46. "The most effective of these causes are the great...craving for extraordinary incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies" (ibid., pp. 872-73). 47. "The Man of Science seeks...

...discriminating powers of the mind," bringing about "a state of almost savage stupor," Wordsworth writes: The most effective of these causes are the great national...craving for extraordinary incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies. "The rapid communication of intelligence hourly"; this...

...unknown to former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion...national events which are daily taking place, and the encreasing accumulation of men in cities, where the uniformity of their occupations produces a craving...

...cities is bad for the mind. "The discriminating powers of the mind" are being "blunted" in part by "the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where...craving for extraordinary incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies." Like Gray, Wordsworth often associates the sublime...

...national events," like the French Revolution, and in great social changes brought about by urbanization ("the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where...occupations produces a craving for extraordinary incident") and by "the rapid communication of intelligence" (through the nascent mass media). These historical...

...unknown to former times . . . now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor" (249), he refers to our situation. As a poet, he will make us notice and appreciate the "one object."...

...unknown to former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and, unfitting it for all voluntary exertion,...craving for extraordinary incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies [through newspapers] [...] The invaluable works of our...