The World Is Too Much With Us, Wordsworth, Summary, Analysis & Themes

"The World Is Too Much with Us" is a sonnet penned by William Wordsworth and published in 1807. Wordsworth, a key figure in the English Romantic movement, expressed deep concern about the diminishing bond between humanity and the natural world. He attributed this loss to the rise of industrial society, which prioritized materialistic pursuits over a harmonious relationship with nature. The poem was composed during the First Industrial Revolution, a transformative era of technological and mechanical advancements that reshaped British society from the mid-18th to the early 19th century. The World Is Too Much With Us BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 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 a…