The World Is Too Much with Us

by William Wordsworth

Start Free Trial

Student Question

How do you write an argumentative essay about Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much with Us"?

Quick answer:

To write an argumentative essay on Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much with Us," begin with a debatable thesis about the poem. For instance, explore whether Wordsworth's work reflects neopagan sympathies or aligns with Anglican theology. Support your thesis with textual evidence and biographical context. Include potential counterarguments and refute them to strengthen your position. Use scholarly sources, like the MLA database, to identify critical debates that inform your argument.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

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 about which readers can legitimately disagree. Part of the essay, in fact, should include counterarguments someone might make against your thesis and refute those potential counterarguments. Thus, for example, you could not write an argumentative essay claiming that Wordsworth used the sonnet form in the poem. Since no one would disagree with this claim, that would be a demonstrative rather than argumentative essay. Instead, the central thesis should be one about which scholars disagree. A good starting point for discovering scholarly disagreements is going to the MLA database and reading critical works on the poem.

One starting point for an argumentative essay might be the lines:

Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn.

Although Wordsworth's attitude towards nature is often described as almost pantheistic, he actually was a devout member of the Church of England, and these lines could be held to reflect that issue. For a thesis, you could choose one side or the other of the argument over whether this poem represents Wordsworth being sympathetic to a sort of neopaganism or whether it should be read through a lens of traditional Anglican theology. You could use a combination of textual and biographical information to support your point.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial