This The World Is Too Much With Us summary starts with the poem’s complaint. William Wordsworth says that people are so busy earning and buying that they have lost their bond with nature. The sea and the wind no longer move them. In frustration, the speaker says he would rather be a pagan who believed in old sea gods, because at least that pagan could feel awe when he looked at the ocean. Read the full text of The World Is Too Much With Us on Poetry Catalog.
The World Is Too Much With Us Summary
Lines 1–4. The speaker says that “The world is too much with us,” meaning the world of business, money and daily cares. “Getting and spending,” we waste our powers. We no longer see anything in nature that belongs to us. We have given our hearts away in exchange for “a sordid boon,” a shabby gift.
Lines 5–8. He points to what we are missing: the sea baring “her bosom to the moon,” and winds that howl at all hours but are now gathered up “like sleeping flowers.” For all of this, he says, “we are out of tune.”
Lines 9–14. The turn comes in the middle of line 9: “It moves us not.” Then he bursts out, “Great God!” He would rather be “A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn,” raised in an old religion nobody believes any more. Standing on a meadow by the sea, he might then catch “glimpses that would make me less forlorn.” He might see Proteus rising from the sea or hear Triton blowing “his wreathed horn.”
Key Facts
- Poet: William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
- Written: around 1802
- Published: 1807, in Poems, in Two Volumes
- Form: Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet
- Speaker: a frustrated observer standing by the sea
- Tone: angry, regretful, then longing
Themes
Materialism. The poem’s main target is a life spent “Getting and spending.” Wordsworth wrote as Britain was becoming more commercial and industrial, and he saw people trading their inner life for money and goods.
Loss of connection with nature. For Wordsworth, nature was a source of moral and spiritual strength. Here that bond is broken. The beauty is still there, but people are “out of tune” with it.
Faith and wonder. The speaker does not really want to become a pagan. His point is that even a dead religion that filled the sea with gods would be better than a modern life that feels nothing when it looks at the sea.
Wasted human power. “We lay waste our powers” suggests that the problem is not only lost pleasure but lost ability. Our capacity to feel and imagine is being used up on trivial things.
Key Lines Explained
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
The opening states the whole argument. “Late and soon” means at all times, past and future. “Getting and spending” sums up a life of earning and buying in three words.
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
A “boon” is a gift or favor. Calling it “sordid” makes it cheap and dirty. We have handed over our hearts and received something worthless in return.
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not.
The image is musical. Our feelings no longer harmonize with the world around us. The short, flat sentence “It moves us not” lands hard after the beautiful images before it.
Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
The outburst is the poem’s turn. “Suckled” means nursed as a baby, so he imagines growing up inside an old belief system. “Outworn” admits that the creed is dead.
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
Proteus and Triton are sea gods from Greek mythology. Proteus could change his shape, and Triton blew a conch shell like a trumpet. The poem ends on a vision of a sea full of life and meaning.
Form, Meter and Rhyme
The World Is Too Much With Us is a Petrarchan sonnet: fourteen lines of iambic pentameter divided into an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines). The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDCDCD, with “soon,” “boon,” “moon” and “tune” set against “powers,” “ours,” “hours” and “flowers.”
Usually a Petrarchan sonnet turns at line 9. Wordsworth places the turn in the middle of that line, after “It moves us not.” The sentence spills over from the octave into the sestet, which makes the outburst “Great God!” feel sudden and unplanned.
FAQ
What is the main message of The World Is Too Much With Us?
That people have become so absorbed in money, work and possessions that they can no longer feel the beauty and power of nature.
Why does the speaker want to be a pagan?
Because a pagan saw gods in the sea and wind. That belief, even if outdated, gave nature meaning and awe that modern people have lost.
Who are Proteus and Triton?
Greek sea gods. Proteus was a shape-changing old man of the sea, and Triton blew a shell horn to calm or raise the waves.
What type of poem is The World Is Too Much With Us?
A Petrarchan sonnet, written in iambic pentameter with an ABBAABBA CDCDCD rhyme scheme.
What does “Getting and spending” mean?
Earning and buying. Wordsworth uses the phrase to sum up a life focused on money and material goods.