The World Is Too Much With Us - William Wordsworth

I can't fully express my love for William Wordsworth poems. He needs no introduction — an English Romantic poet who helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature.

“The World Is Too Much With Us” is a sonnet published in 1807 by William Wordsworth. A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem which follows the iambic pentameter.

[If you are NOT interested to know more about Iambic Pentameter, feel free to skip the following section straight to the poem.]

For all my fellow readers who're confused, Iambic pentameter can be understood as a beat system followed in poetry to introduce rhythm. Meter refers to rhythm such as Dum da da Dum da da, or Tee tum Tee tum etc. Pent (penta) means five.

The basic unit of meter is called foot, which consists of unstressed and/or stressed syllables [not words! syllables, which are basically chunks of speech, like above has two syllables - a BOVE]. There are many types of foot, for example, Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl etc. Iamb is a type of foot where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.

The word 'rebel' when pronounced as a verb, sounds like re-BEL. Such type of words are called Iambs. Some more examples are - com-PLETE, to-DAY, a-GAIN, a-BOVE, & to-PLAY.

So, combining, Iambic Pentameter refers to five iambs per line in poetry.

There are many types of sonnets too, including the famous Shakespearean style (ABAB CDCD EFEF). Wordsworth mainly used the Petrarchan (Italian) style (ABBAABBA for octave, CDECDE or similar for sestet). The Italian style focuses on emotional contrast in the poem.

Coming back to the poem, The World is too much with us is a poem lamenting the wither of human interaction with nature and the increasing influence of consumerism and materialism in our lives. It's interesting to note that the poem written 200 years ago is still valid, and in fact even more relevant in the present day.

I have so much to say, yet I strongly believe that over-explaining a poem weakens its message. It is to be discovered by oneself by pondering through the soft mornings or in the chilly night. Also, a poem may hold different meanings for everyone, so I'll leave you with words…

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;
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.

Summary

First off, the specific rhyme scheme followed in the poem is the traditional ABBAABBA for the octave, and CDCDCD for the sestet (lines 9-14). [For simplicity in understanding the division, I have put a space between the octave and the sestet.]

In the octave, Wordsworth puts forward the concern straight — humans have been engulfed by materialistic desires, we keep on working to earn money only to spend it the next day, and in this never-ending loop, we have silently forgotten to find beauty and tranquility in nature. We have lost the ability to appreciate the moonlit ocean, and the peaceful windless night which is like a folded flower in the cold. Our lives have alienated from the natural tune of nature, and all that surrounds us are buildings, concrete and screens.

In the sestet, he presents a longing to be born in a society which worships gods, so that he may be calmed by standing on a pleasant patch of grass. He writes that he might see the Greek god Proteus from his eyes, or hear the joyful tune of Triton's legendary, spiral-grooved conch shell.

Until next time my friend,

— Curiosity Genes