The World Is Too Much with Us

When Wordsworth says that "The world is too much with us," he is setting "the world" in opposition to to other sources of value, which he regards as more meaningful. Although Wordsworth's religious...

Romanticism as an artistic and literary movement began in the late eighteenth century and continued until the mid-nineteenth century. The beginning of the Romantic Movement in England is said to be...

“The World Is Too Much with Us” is an Italian sonnet. These sonnets are also termed Petrarchan sonnets. Ensure you understand the format of a typical Italian sonnet. As with other sonnets, it...

This is one of Wordsworth's most explicit statements comparing man's preoccupation with his economic status and his consequent failure to perceive what is really important--nature and all it...

The speaker appears to be standing by himself looking out at the ocean. The line preceding the three you have quoted should also be included in this explication. This sea that bears her bosom to...

Consider the title of the poem. Wordsworth is saying that humans perceive the world as human-centered. In other words, people focus too much on themselves and on human culture itself. We focus more...

Although the theme and dramatic situation in "The World is Too Much With Us" are close to one another, there is some significant divergence between the two. Initially, when looking at the...

The section of the poem where the "sleeping flowers" appears is a point where Wordsworth employs a series of natural images that are designed to bring to light all of what is being missed when one...

Wordsworth is talking about how the wind sounds: he says it howls. While the words are self-explanatory, the context needs to be explained. Wordsworth is saying in this sonnet that modern humans...

William Wordsworth's sonnet "The World is Too Much with Us" meditates on the way the modern world (early 1800s) is overly commercialized, causing humans to become separate from nature. Wordsworth...

In "The World Is Too Much With Us," William Wordsworth establishes his reputation as a poet of nature by focusing on the distance with which humankind has removed itself from nature. Wordsworth...

The speaker of the sonnet is standing on a promontory looking at the ocean. He sees the beauty of "This sea that bares her bosom to the moon" and that of "The winds that will be howling at all...

This poem, a sonnet by William Wordsworth, fits into the Romantic tradition and utilizes numerous tenets common to Romantic literature: classical allusions, a personification of the natural...

Wordsworth does not say he would like to remain a pagan but that he would rather be a pagan than be a materialistic modern man without any religious belief, engrossed in making money and buying...

Composed during the turn of the nineteenth century, William Wordsworth's sonnet "The World Is Too Much with Us" quite clearly illustrates the author's disdain for materialism through his use of...

In all his poetry, Wordsworth strives to reach out to the ordinary people. His individuality and style had purposeful intent and he sought nothing less than the revitalization of poetry and...

Diction is very important in poetry because it creates tone or mood, and the language of poetry is typically relatively condensed (as compared to prose). In Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much With...

The main theme of this poem is the deadening effect of materialism in the modern world, as encapsulated in the line: "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers." The poet laments this state of...

The lea, on which the speaker is clearly standing, is the focal point from which his observations emanate in William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us." For, it is from this point that...

The poem is an Italian sonnet, written as one 14 line stanza. The sonnet uses one stanza with a break in line 9. It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be The lines are not divided...

The "world" in this poem is presented by Wordsworth in overwhelmingly negative terms. His central argument in this poem is that we have given ourselves over to the world to such a degree that we...

The general gist of Wordsworth's “The World is Too Much with Us” is that contemporary society, in becoming more materialistic, has cut itself off from nature. As a result, we've lost something of...

To answer this question, we should first look at the definition of syntax. It is defined as... ...the study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words. In simple terms, the...

“Late” refers to the most recent past and the present. “Soon” is the future. Wordsworth’s theme or warning here is that in recent and future times, it seems that humans have lost touch with nature...

Concerning your question about Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much With Us," there's more to determining an octave and sestet and studying how the poem works than just counting lines. In fact, in...

I'm not sure what you mean by a "Miltonic" sonnet, but this sonnet connects with Milton's sonnets in that it is an Italian sonnet in form: it consists of two sections, an Octave with rhyme scheme...

Wordsworth is thinking of the materialistic and self-centered attitudes and activities of people in the "world" that he refers to in the opening of his poem. He is making the point that people miss...

William Wordsworth criticizes the modernization of the world and humanity's increasing infatuation with consumption and materialism. The speaker feels that humans have lost touch with nature and...

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 universal theme...

Essentially, the speaker, presumably Wordsworth, is lamenting a social condition that is predicated upon wealth acquisition and conformity. In this setting, the speaker believes that individuals...

The chief comparisons between the two lay in (1) the subjects (nature) and (2) the poetic form (sonnets). Both subjects address the lamentable power of riches and enterprise--in a world of greed...

I can answer this not line by line, but every couple/few lines . And keep in mind this was written in 1807, NOT in this day and age. Looking at it now we could really tie in a lot of technology...

In short, William Wordsworth thinks that we should be moved by nature and that we are not anymore. Although the title/first line of the poem is ambiguous, all possible interpretations of it lead to...

This poem by William Wordsworth speaks to the same longing, the same desires, as virtually all of his other poems, so it is safe to see the first person narrator character as Wordsworth himself....

In Wordsworth's poem, the primary level of focus is to create a vision of how conformity can be emotionally deadening. The mere title would convey this. In the opening lines, there is the direct...

The structure and syntax of Wordsworth is a bit on the unconventional side. It seems as if the poem itself is a type of reflection and pensive understanding about the condition of human beings...

At the beginning of the poem, Wordsworth argues that mankind has become obsessed with "getting and spending." In other words, people have become too much concerned with the accumulation of material...

The antecedent for "It" in line nine of Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much With Us" is, in general, nature. Specifically, the "It" refers back to "The Sea" in line five and "The winds" in line...

Wordsworth was a foreward thinking, already noting the "revolution" that was happening as industrialization swept through England. In the late 1700s, the mechanization of many production...

An English Romantic poet, William Wordsworth bemoans the materialistic society that has lost touch with the natural world. Now they are almost captives of this world of materialism, having lost...

William Wordsworth’s poem beginning “The world is too much with us” laments the alienation of human beings from the beauties and power of nature. Although the poem opens by stressing that humans...

In this sonnet, Wordsworth's speaker pits nature against civilization. He states that we lost something when we turned away from nature in pursuit of money and profit. The "world" that is "too much...

William Wordsworth’s poem “The World Is Too Much With Us” scolds mankind for ignoring nature and placing too much emphasis on his own society. Instead of communing with nature, man is only...

Both answers are excellent. I have one small point to add: The effect of misusing our powers, or misdirecting our spiritual and emotional energy, is that we have created a lonely world. The poet...

An argumentative essay is one where you state a thesis and support that thesis from the text of the poem or other relevant sources. For an essay to be genuinely argumentative, it must make a point...

One important theme in this poem is the movement of the human race away from its spiritual history and towards modern living. The author sees modern ideas as more shallow, despite their...