In this poem, Wordsworth laments how we are completely out of touch with Nature and her great beauty and power.  We are so caught up in our own world, our own concerns, our own selfish pursuits, to notice anything about our divinity or the beauty that exists around us.  This is a major theme of a lot of his poetry; I have provided links to other poems below, so that you can see the common thread throughout them all.

Specifically, in this poem Wordsworth says that we are too concerned with money, that in "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers".  We could be so in tune with ourselves, be so much more happy and powerful if we weren't so caught up in getting and spending money.  We are so caught up in it that "We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon"; our hearts are not ours anymore, a horrible fate.  He describes some beautiful scenes of nature but how "For this, for everything, we are out of tune", we cannot appreciate it.  He ends by saying that he would rather, even, be part of a pagan religion that worshipped the earth, or alive when the greek gods ruled the earth in conjunction with nature than to be left natureless and wrapped up in ourselves as we are now.

I hope that helps!

In "The World is Too Much with Us," what are the negative aspects of the world according to Wordsworth?

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 have made a "sordid boon," actually unwittingly giving "our hearts away" as we pursue the world--the material world of possessions and wealth--instead of focussing on our souls and on our relationship with Nature. Wordsworth goes on to argue that by devoting ourselves to "getting and spending" alone and not our souls and Nature we actually "lay waste our powers" and have made ourselves "out of tune" with Nature and its glories that are capable of restoring and nourishing our soul:

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;

It moves us not.

By giving ourselves over to the world we have dulled and sensitised ourselves to the beauty and majesty of nature, being not moved by the natural wonders that we can see. Wordsworth thus argues that we need to return to Nature and re-kindle our respect and admiration for it by separating ourselves from the malign and profoundly damaging influence of the "world."

In "The World is Too Much with Us," what are the negative aspects of the world according to Wordsworth?

Essentially, those elements in the world that create the feeling of alienation and repression of individual identity are those forces that "are too much with us."  Wordsworth links this with the denial of the natural forces that are present in the world.  The industrialized world, the urban setting, and the conditions that prevent a full embrace of the natural world are the negative aspects of the world that Wordsworth seeks to avoid.  For example, The sea and the winds that might liberate one from world-weariness are depicted as singers or musicians with whose song people “are out of tune.” The reader is then startled by the poet’s sudden, aggressive “anti-confession”: “Great God! I’d rather be/ A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn.”  From beginning to end, the sonnet is seen as an unrelenting attack on superficiality and conventionality in faith and in human motivation promoted by the fixed contours of “the world.”

What is the main theme of Wordsworth's poem "The World is too Much with Us"?

In Wordsworth's sonnet "The World is Too Much With Us," the narrator contrasts a way of living that is close to nature with a way of living that centers on materialism. He calls the materialist way of the world "getting and spending." In that worldly mode, we focus on earning money and buying things. In doing so, the narrator argues, we waste our power, by which he means we waste our most valuable potential as human beings.

The narrator calls the "boon," or wealth-focused working all the time, "sordid."

His point or theme is that we would become better humans if we lived closer to nature, closer to the sea and moon and wind. He mourns the passing of the Greek myths, which represented a time when people had a greater appreciation of the natural world and the divine spark that exists in it.

In the sonnet "The world is too much with us," what idea is Wordsworth expressing?

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 bemoans the spiritual disconnect we have wrought by living worldly lives. As sullymonster has said, we are too focused on materialism to be spiritual. Herin lies a paradox: we are both too immersed in the world (meaning worldy concerns) and too separated from it (meaning we've lost our spiritual connection with nature.

When the narrative persona says he's "rather be a pagan", he's not necessarily saying he wishes to revert to that time or that religion (this is evident in the fact that he calls it a "creed outworn"). What he does want, though, is to recover some of the wonder and awe that the pagans experienced in nature.

He says that were he a pagan, he would see glimpses of the gods (Proteus and Triton) that would make him feel less forlorn. To be forlorn is to feel sad and lost, to feel abandoned and alone. He uses the allusion to the gods to show us we are separated from God (in a poetic, not Christian sense), that everything is wrong (spiritually) with the way we live our lives.

What he's talking about here is the extreme spiritual and emotional isolation he (and we) have created by living worldly lives that are separated from nature. The cost to the individual is to feel forlorn: abandoned, separated, and utterly alone.

In the sonnet "The world is too much with us," what idea is Wordsworth expressing?

Wordsworth was expressing a feeling often connected with the average citizen in the modern age. "The world is too much with us" - most simply, we are too wrapped up in the concerns of our everyday lives, and have lost sight of what is meaningful. We are "getting and spending", we have "given our hearts away." Wordsworth also accuses humans of "lay[ing] waste to our powers", or misusing the energy we have in the pursuit of materialistic goals.

Nature is personified in this poem, raising its significance. The "Sea" is strong and rebellious, "baring her bosom to the moon." The constrast to the the weak actions of the humans further disparages the humanity and reminds the readers to return to the beauty and importance of nature.

Wordsworth makes it clear that the readers are as much to blame as the poet. "We" and "our" are the subject pronouns used. However, the poet separates himself in the end, espousing a strong desire to become of pagan culture, to worship Nature, and (as we are left to believe) to be happier as a result.

In the sonnet "The world is too much with us," what idea is Wordsworth expressing?

"In the sonnet "The World Is Too Much with Us" the poet contrasts Nature with the world of materialism and "making it." Because we are insensitive to the richness of Nature, we may be forfeiting our souls. To us there is nothing wonderful or mysterious about the natural world, but ancients who were pagans created a colorful mythology out of their awe of Nature."

Here is the poem, with some unfamiliar words glossed:

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!
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;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; (1)
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, (2)
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus (3) rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton (4) blow his wreathed horn.

(1) Brought up in an outdated religion.
(2) Meadow.

(3) Greek sea god capable of taking many shapes.

(4) Another sea god, often depicted as trumpeting on a shell.

What is the meaning of "The world is too much with us" by William Wordsworth?

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 systems and the new possibilities for trade helped to explode industry.  People flocked to the cities for jobs in factories, knowing that they could make more money and better provide for their families than if they remained in the country.  Rural and agricultural communities were changed forever by this emigration, as were family dynamics.  Businesses and individuals were working longer and harder, and moving a much faster pace than was typical in pastoral England.   

Wordsworth firmly believed that humanity was giving up its soul - and individuality - to the pursuit of money.  "We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"  The hearts became a part of the machinery of industry.  When he says "we are out of tune", he is making a firm criticism of society's behavior.  This is followed up by making what would have been at the time a controversial statement - that he would rather be a pagan (than a Christian) because, at least then, he would have harmony with nature and, thus, with himself.

Wordsworth helps to usher in the Romantic era of literature with this poem, when many more authors will extol the virtues of respecting and "being at one" with nature.

What is the meaning of "The world is too much with us" by William Wordsworth?

This beautiful poem discusses the separation of man from nature in his quest for more and more material wealth.  The second and third lines really express this theme:

"Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;"

A perfect poem for the upcoming Earth Day, don't you think? :)

Check the link below for more information!  Good luck!