19 pages • 38 minutes read
William WordsworthThe World Is Too Much with Us
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1807A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Corrupt Present Versus the Idealized Past
Throughout his poetic career, Wordsworth drew a clear distinction between the present, which he typically perceived as corrupt and meaningless, and the past, which he idealized as a purer and more spiritual time. For much of his poetry, that idealized past was his own childhood. In “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth notes that he often indulges in the memories of his youth, feeling “in hours of weariness, sensations sweet” (Line 28) when doing so. It was the memory of the River Wye which he often returned to “in spirit” (Line 57) when the “fever of the world” (Line 55) “hung upon the beatings of [his] heart” (Line 56) too heavily. Ruminating on his past in nature is what Wordsworth uses to get through the miseries of the present world.
The halcyon days of Wordsworth’s childhood and his dependence on those memories inspired in him a belief that society and civilization were consistently becoming worse and that the past was a purer time. In “The World Is Too Much With Us,” Wordsworth is disillusioned with the state of the world. He dislikes the culture of consumerism, the materialistic attitude of his countrymen, and the severance he feels from the natural world. Blaming these problems on the influence of his industrial and Christian country, Wordsworth wishes to become a pagan (a nature worshipper) in the hopes that he can stand in a “pleasant lea” (Line 11) and have a “glimpse” (Line 12) of a divine natural world ruled by gods like Proteus and Triton.
While Wordsworth was actually fairly conservative in his religious beliefs compared to his contemporaries William Blake and Percy Shelley, his penchant for idealizing the past and condemning the present leads him to question the Christianity of his time and to long for something different in this sonnet. He would rather be “suckled in a creed outworn” (Line 10) and reared in a different, ancient tradition if it meant he could properly appreciate the divine presence within nature, an entity he reveres as sacred in his nostalgic meditations. For Wordsworth, when the present feels overwhelmingly oppressive, it is the hope that the past affords that he clings to desperately.
The Powerlessness of Humankind
From the beginning of “The World Is Too Much With Us,” Wordsworth despairs at the powerlessness of humanity to change their situation and escape the influence of the materialistic world. The very first line notes the overwhelming presence of that materialistic world that is “too much with us.” Wordsworth laments how literally overpowering this influence is, as it leads people to “lay waste” their individual “powers” (Line 2) and to resign themselves to owning nothing of natural substance. Wordsworth argues the industrial world has conditioned people to desire meaningless “getting and spending” (Line 2), while ignoring how “little” of what they see in nature is theirs to claim. This shared state of passivity and indolence is symptomatic of society’s “sordid” (Line 4) reliance on materialism.
For the first eight lines of the poem, Wordsworth includes himself in his comments against the human race. He uses the plural first person pronouns “we,” “us,” and “our” throughout, revealing his own inability to break out of the mold set by the Industrial Revolution. He may notice and condemn the issues plaguing his country, but despite his best efforts to participate with and learn from nature, he is powerless to do anything but emulate what others do.
It is not until the beginning of the sestet that Wordsworth fully attempts to steel his resolve and shake off his world’s oppressive influence. He wishes he were a pagan so that, while standing in a beautiful pasture, he could finally see a “glimpse” of something sacred in nature that would make him feel “less forlorn” (Line 12). His earnest desire for spirituality and purpose in a dead, secular world inspires his declaration of interest in paganism, but the sonnet ends with no resolution to that wish. In the final line, Wordsworth imagines what it would be like to see Proteus and to hear Triton’s horn, but the visions of these gods are ultimately only in his imagination. Wordsworth might “rather be” (Line 9) a pagan, but he does not demonstrate any further resolve than that initial, tentative wish. At the poem’s conclusion, Wordsworth is still as wistful, “forlorn” (12), and powerless to change anything as he was when it began.
Neglected Nature
A common complaint throughout Wordsworth’s poetry is how human beings have neglected or ignored their place within nature. In the poem “The Tables Turned,” Wordsworth chastises a scholarly acquaintance who spends his days indoors studying, urging him to quit the “dull and endless strife” (Line 9) of books and to immerse himself in the “music” (Line 11) of the birds in the woodland. Science, art, old books, and traditional education that ignore the natural world are all “barren” (Line 30) and of less value than a “heart that watches and receives” (Lines 31-32) instruction from nature.
In “The World Is Too Much With Us,” Wordsworth pursues that same argument. He criticizes people whose lives consist of “getting and spending” (Line 2) and who willingly and eagerly give “their hearts away” (Line 4) by placing their affections in things other than nature. He describes the beauty of the sea and the sounds of the lively winds and despairs that these things do not move or affect anyone because people do not even know to look for it. Their materialism and divided focus prevent them from receiving “glimpses” (Line 12) of nature’s beauty, wisdom, and spiritual instruction. Wordsworth’s lament also suggests that the theme of Neglected Nature has a double meaning. Not only is humankind neglecting the natural world outside the window, but humans are also neglecting their very nature, which is to commune with a shared Divine that contrasts with the “divisiveness” of institutions like organized religion, materialism, and capitalism. Wordsworth sees the Industrial Revolution and Christianity as tools that people use in the name of progress, but these tools place blinkers onto people and hide the truth about nature’s own bounty.
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