“The World is Too

Much With Us”

-William Wordsworth

By: Mandy Spangler and Charlotte

Richardson
 William Wordsworth

 He was born April 7, 1770 in

Cockermouth, Cumbria,
England.
 His mother died when he was
eight and soon after his father
also died, leaving his siblings
and he to an orphanage.
 After his late semester in
college he toured Europe to
learn more about poetry and
political sensibilities.
 William Wordsworth Cont.
 His earliest poetry was published in 1793.
 He married his childhood friend Mary
Hutchinson and had five children together.
 His most famous work was The Prelude
which was published three months after his
death by his wife.
 He died April 23, 1850 from pleurisy.
"William Wordsworth." Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios &
More. Academy of American Poets. Web. 07 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.poets.org/wword/>. *Slides 2 & 3
The World Is Too Much With Us
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.
"Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works."
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems,
Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 07 Feb.
2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww317.html>.
 Poem Paraphrase
“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:”
This reflects his complaint towards the fast pace of the age
in the world.
“Little we see in Nature that is ours,
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”
We are letting our progress in the world take over the
wonders of nature to where we don’t notice it.
“This 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,”
Up-gathered like sleeping flowers is an image he uses to
make the point of how the “winds that will be howling at all
hours” are internal noises, or the noise of industry at all
hours.
 Poem Paraphrase Cont.
“It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;”
The above two lines are the venting of his anger. He’d
rather be like a pagan, for instance believing Greek
gods, than part of a world that is destroying nature and
calling itself Christian. He is not saying he doesn’t
believe in God. He just expresses his anger at the world
to God.
“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.”
He feels it would be so much simpler to go back the
pagan beliefs of the Greeks of giving in to all things of
nature. Proteus was one of the mythological Greek gods
of the sea, and Triton was the son of Poseidon and
Aphrodite whose horn was a conch shell for controlling
the waters.
 Poem Paraphrase Cont.

Fralin , G. K. "Poetry Analysis: The World Is Too Much With Us

by William Wordsworth (article) by G K Fralin on
AuthorsDen." AuthorsDen. Web. 08 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?
catid=54&id=44124>.
 Diction

The diction of the poem takes on a

more formal,
abstract, vivid, and obsolete form.
It uses words such
as:
 Lea- Grassland, land used for
pasturing.
 Forlorn- Dreary, unhappy, sad.
 Sordid- Greedy, selfish.
 Boon- Benefit
Dictionary.com | Find the
Meanings and Definitions of
Words at Dictionary.com. Web.
08 Feb. 2011.
<http://dictionary.reference.co
m/>.
 Tone and Mood
 In William Wordsworth's sonnet "The World Is Too
Much with Us" he conveys his frustration about the
state in which he sees the world. Throughout the
poem the speaker repeatedly states his irritation with
how out of touch the world has become with nature.
With his dissatisfaction comes a harsh tone that
criticizes the Industrial Revolution and the toll it has
taken on the environment.
 Wordsworth’s mood throughout the overall poem is
one of frustration and irritation.

"Tone in William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us"

Summary | BookRags.com." BookRags.com | Study Guides,
Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More. BookRags, Inc. Web. 11
Feb. 2011. <http://www.bookrags.com/essay-
2003/12/2/21405/6553>.
 Rhetorical Situation

 William Wordsworth is speaking, speaking to

everybody in the world, about the industrial
revolution, and it was to explain his frustration with
the world.
 Talking to you. We are being spoken to directly
because he is using the term “we”.
 Figurative Language

 “And are up-gathered now like

sleeping flowers” is saying that the
hours, change and the fast pace, is
stealing away the unity of nature.
 “The winds that will be howling at all
hours” the wind is the noise of the
industry at all hours and they can be
both internal or external noises.

 Fralin , G. K. "Poetry Analysis: The World Is

Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth
(article) by G K Fralin on AuthorsDen."
AuthorsDen. Web. 08 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.authorsden.com/categories/
article_top.asp?catid=54&id=44124>.
 Imagery
 A. “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.”
These lines create a mental picture that allows you to see
Wordsworth on a shore, shaking his fist with anger about
the abuse geared towards nature, showing how he really
feels.
 B. Hear: you can just hear the anger of people during
the industrial revolution. How the people disliked what was
happening and they were voicing their opinion on how
they felt about that time period.
 “Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.” You can hear
Triton’s noise that he has just blown from the conch shell.
 Sight: “Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;” you can
just picture a mythological Greek God rising from the Sea.
Imagery Cont.

 C. Symbolism: The Wind- It’s the

noise of the factories that is
constantly annoying a number of
people.

 Fralin , G. K. "Poetry Analysis: The World

Is Too Much With Us by William
Wordsworth (article) by G K Fralin on
AuthorsDen." AuthorsDen. Web. 08 Feb.
2011.
<http://www.authorsden.com/categorie
s/article_top.asp?catid=54&id=44124>.
How Does Sound Contribute to
the Effect of the Poem
 The poem does rhyme for
example moon and boon,
however it doesn’t have a
specific rhyme scheme.
 In Line 9 alliteration occurs with
the phrase Great God! The
Consonant G is repeated twice.
 Two examples of cacophony
are suckled and howling.
 One examples of euphony is
pleasant lea.
 How is the poem structured?

 Yes it has standard form, It is like a sonnet because it

also has 14 lines.
 The poem is free verse.
 Rhyme pattern: A B C A A C B A D E D E D E

 Fralin , G. K. "Poetry Analysis: The World Is Too Much With Us by

William Wordsworth (article) by G K Fralin on AuthorsDen."
AuthorsDen. Web. 08 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid
=54&id=44124>.