Introduction
"The World is Too Much With Us" is a sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. Composed around 1802, the poem criticizes the events and materialism surrounding the industrial revolution and melancholically longs for a return to nature. The poet borrowed the form of the Italian sonnet, with its first octave outlining a problem and the concluding sestet offering a solution.
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Questions to Consider
- What techniques does the poet employ to capture a sense of nostalgia?
- How does the works form add meaning to the message of the poem?
- How do you interpret the following lines?
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn