The World is Too Much with Us (Summary )

 

In the very beginning of the poem, the poet says, “The world is too much with us.” It suggests that we are giving our attention to the world and are leaving nature behind. We are busy in earning and spending which, according to the poet, means wasting our powers. We do not acknowledge nature for what it has to offer. Instead, “We have given our hearts away” to which the speaker calls a “sordid boon.”

The sea still shows her bosom to the moon, the wind still howls at all hours, and clouds gather make beautiful scenes. But unfortunately, we are not in tune with nature i.e. we do not fit into nature. The speaker claims that such natural happenings no longer touch us because we perceive nature only in terms of commodity values. As a result, the speaker wishes to become a pagan with outworn creed so that he could stand on natural meadows and feels less lonely which means escaping from the commercial world. By doing so, he hopes to see an extinct sea creature, Proteus, and hear old Triton blow his horn.

In this poem, ‘the world’ refers to the civilization which has come forward by ignoring nature. ‘Getting and spending’ for which ‘we lay our powers’ means activities that take place in an industrial world. For Wordsworth, the world is not as great as ‘Nature’ but we do not tend to see natural gifts. In the fourth line of the poem, Wordsworth calls industrialization a sordid boon because this process involves the destruction of Nature.

William Wordsworth’s poem The World is Too Much with Us carries the themes of industrialization, loss of spiritual connection between nature and human beings, destruction of nature, loss of spiritualism.

·         Industrialization – Wordsworth published his poem, The World is Too Much with Us in a period when industrialization was rapidly growing. Due to the industrialization, human beings have shifted their focus from spiritualism to consumerism.

·         Loss of spiritual connection between nature and human beings – According to Wordsworth, spiritual connection between nature and human beings no longer exists. It is because industrialization has taught them to see nature in terms of consumer values.

·         Destruction of nature – Industrialization directly affects nature. For instance, the speaker can no longer see a Proteus and hear a Triton blow its horn.