"The World is Too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth

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

Previous Citation(s)

This work is in the public domain