"Nuns Fret Not Their Convent's Narrow Room", is a sonnet in which William Wordsworth expresses the idea of having limitations and being happy.  He notices that when there is too much freedom, problems that cause chaos and restlessness follow.  Within each of the examples he uses, they were all "bound" by something.    Just like with the restraints that the sonnet allowed freedom, William is saying their bonds allow freedom.  

Each of the examples he uses show the "worker in their element.  Each had the freedoms to do more with their life but were content with the capabilities and actions that they took liberty doing. They lived life as they knew it.  The nun acted on works for the Lord and denied herself of worldly and fleshly desires and extravagant possessions. Next, he describes a hermit.  This is a person who is completely shut off from the outside world.  People who become hermits or recluses find themselves uncomfortable when put into situations of public interaction.  Students and maids follow the same idea as the Nun or hermit.  Each of the titles is the manifestation of the message the author is trying to convey.  

Upon reading the text, I believe that the author is saying that even though we are burdened with the mundanity of everyday life (regardless of the type of life that is lived by each person) it makes us productive in the area or field that we want to be in.  The author believes that by using the format, it is creating a limitation on him.  Through this limitation he creates a story.  He himself is trying to convey an example of his point by demonstration.  The paradox in this poem came when the author William Wordsworth said, "In truth the prison, unto which we doom ourselves, no prison is " (Wordsworth 21) The seemingly contradictory statement adds great value to the rest of the poem. The sestet puts the reader in a different mind frame, and takes on a more uplifted tone.  This part of the poem indicates an explanation for the reason he writes it.

William Wordsworth stated in the sestet, "And hence for me, in sundry moods, 'twas past time to be bound within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground; Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be) who have felt the weight of too much liberty. Should find brief solace there, as I have found." (Wordsworth 21)  In essence the last lines of the poem were his explanation for writing the poem.  He believes that within the bound of this poem he could create.  After experiencing writers block, the form and restrictions of the poem allowed freedom.  I believe he's saying too much freedom is a bad thing.  It allows for unproductiveness and chaos to arise.  

V S Naipaul (a 2001 Nobel Prize recipient) claims that, "Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision."  This furthers the argument that we do make prisons for ourselves.  Based on the poem, William would argue that the prisons we make, in fact are not prisons.  "In truth the prison, unto which we doom ourselves, no prison is ".  We all work for the dollar.  In this world and society now we all limit ourselves to have a certain freedom.  The freedom that we imagine in our minds that will "make us happy".  Consequently the freedom that we think we are allowing ourselves to have will put us in the prison that the poem clearly states.  The author saw the dilemma.

William Wordsworth knew that the examples he chose were perfect to show the denial of freedom in more ways than one.  The statement that he makes by his poem stands true to this day.  Society shows that we "freely" sign waivers, or contracts to our freedom.  Thinking we are still in control, we do not notice that there is a system preset for us to make our decisions.  We give away our freedoms for security, and that's a way for the majority to feel safe.  This is what William Wordsworth warns against in his poem.  When there is too much freedom chaos and restlessness flourish.  The first world problems are a perfect example.

"Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room" is a poem that states one point of view on the controversial issue of freedom and where it stops.  Also, The stance that this poem has is that even though we do set boundaries, or personal prisons they allow us to be productive.  There seems not to be a clear-cut answer and no answer is proven wrong.

