Introduction:
“The world is too much with us” by William Wordsworth was published in 1807. Wordsworth wrote the poem during the First Industrial Revolution in mid-18th to early 19th century. The poem laments the withering connection between humankind and nature, blaming industrial society for replacing that connection with material pursuits.
Summary:
The poet says that the material world controls our lives. Its result is that we have lost our humanity. We have lost the ability to connect with Nature. We have given away our emotions and liveliness in exchange for material gains. The ocean that reflects the moonlight on its surface, and the peaceful night, which is like flowers whose petals are folded up in the cold- these natural features still exist. But we cannot appreciate them. Our lives, have nothing to do with the natural world. As a result, nature has no emotional impact on us.
The poet is disappointed with the materialistic world. He wishes to go back in time where he can be in harmony with nature. He wishes that he were raised in a culture that worshipped many gods. That way, standing in a pleasant field of grass, he might peacefully see the ocean before him. He might see the Greek Proteus taking shape before his eyes, or heat another Greek god, Triton, below his horn.
Structure and Form:
"The World is Too Much with Us" follows the structure of an Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet and is composed in iambic pentameter. Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two parts, octave and sestet. The octave part (first eight lines) presents the problem of materialism and the sestet part (last six lines) is the poet’s solution to that. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABBA ABBACDCDCD. The poem setting takes place near the ocean somewhere. Moreover, it is written in the first person; therefore, it is easy to assume that the speaker is the poet himself.
Literary Devices in Poem:
Wordsworth employs various literary devices to convey his message effectively. The use of caesura; abrupt stop caused by full stop, solon, semicolon in these lines; The world is too much with us; late and soon, it moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be, its reflects the subject matter and the speaker’s state of mind. The poet has used personification at several places in this poem, such as “sea that bears her bosom to the moon”; “The winds that will be howling at all hours” and “sleeping flowers.” All these expressions make nature possess human-like qualities like yearning for love, sleeping, and soothing. It emphasizes the ideal relationship between man and Earth that the speaker wishes for in a damaged society.
The poet uses a simile of a sleeping flower to represent the winds gathering together as if they were sleeping. Moreover, poet use metaphor in line “Suckle in a creed outworn.” Here creed represents mother that nurses her child. Furthermore, a hyperbolic expression can be found in the line "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers," where the poet exaggerates the impact of material pursuits on human potential that human just wasting their time in materialistic world. Additionally, the poem's most important and effective hyperbole is "It moves us not. Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn" (lines 9-10). This emotion-filled exaggeration embodies the speaker's anger because he cries out that he would rather not believe in God than live in a society that does not value nature.
Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line is used in poem. Example;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
Wordsworth uses two allusions from Greek mythology in poem to express his long spiritual and meaningful connection to the natural world. Proteus and Triton are both figures from ancient Greek mythology. Wordsworth has employs vivid imagery in poem such as “winds that will be howling, “to the sense of touch as “sleeping flowers;” and to the sense of sight as “Proteus rising from the sea.” Apart from these, Wordsworth employs both assonance and consonance to create a musical and rhythmic effect. The repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as /o/ sound in “Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn” and repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /s/ in “Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea” and /f/ and /t/ sounds in “For this, for everything, we are out of tune.”
Read about: Analysis of poem My last duchess By Robert Browning.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, "The World is Too Much with Us," the speaker laments the loss of man's intimate connection to the natural world in the wake of industrialism and a greater desire for worldly success. The observation that the tone of the poem is desperate, arguing that humankind's original relationship with nature can never be revived.
