"The World is Too Much With Us; Late and Soon" by William Wordsworth

The World is Too Much With Us; Late and Soon
William Wordsworth

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! The 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 wreathed horn. 










William Wordsworth, one of the founders of Romanticism, emphasizes the importance of nature within his poem. Just a little background on Romanticism, the movement places grave importance on the inequality of industrialization, government, and social classes. Not only this, the movement has a strong obsession with nature and it's effects.

Starting in the first two lines of the poem the speaker claims, "The world is too much with us" and "getting and spending". The first phrase "The world is too much with us", when read aloud, we notice an alliteration of the "u" sound. This creates a crowding effect within the phrase that points to the larger point of the poem of the world being too complicated and too much for the speaker. The phrase "getting and spending" could be a reference to the consumerism that plays a role within the current "world" that the speaker is describing. In addition, the fact that the speaker uses "getting and spending" as gerunds indicates their almost never ending nature as if this type of society is a continual progression.  In the next line, the speaker claims, "Little we see in Nature that is ours". This phrase seems to indicate the loss of inspiration and ownership of nature that society had previously had. The speaker then moves on to say "We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!" The speaker seems to use a sarcastic tone because sordid has the denotation of moral distaste and contempt while boon has the denotation of a reward of some sort. Thus, the contradictory nature of the phrase elucidates the speaker's contempt with current society. In the next 3-4 lines, the speaker compares elements of the nature he holds so dearly such as the "sea" and "winds" to "sleeping flowers". The speaker uses personification to exemplify the message of society not adhering to the influential powers of nature anymore. In the next couple lines, there seems to be a shift in tone when the speaker claims, "...Great God! I'd rather be/ A pagan suckled in a creed outworn." Paganism is a primitive form of religious belief, which makes this phrase so interesting because it is as if the speaker wishes he could become more obsolete. In the next couple lines, we learn why he would want to be a pagan. The speaker claims, "Have glimpses that would be less forlorn". The speaker seems to be saying that paganism would allow him to have glimpses of how nature should be perceived with all it's great power and importance. In the last two lines, the speaker alludes to "Triton" and "Proteus" which are greek sea gods who have the power to influence the sea. This allusion help promotes the speaker's want to go back and appreciate the powers of nature.