The World Is Too Much with Us

"The World Is Too Much with Us" is a sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. In it, Wordsworth criticises the world of the First Industrial Revolution for being absorbed in materialism and distancing itself from nature. Composed circa 1802, the poem was first published in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807).

Theme
In the early nineteenth century, Wordsworth wrote several sonnets lambasting what he perceived as "the decadent material cynicism of the time." "The World Is Too Much with Us" is one of those works. It reflects his view that humanity must get in touch with people to progress spiritually. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABBA ABBA CDCD CD. This Italian or Petrarchan sonnet uses the last six lines (sestet) to answer the first eight lines (octave). The first eight lines (octave) are the problems and the next six (sestet) are the solutions.

In the sestet, the poet imagines believing in gods like Proteus and Triton rather than being Christian, despite seeing paganism as "a creed outworn", because he thinks that life would be more meaningful that way.