Page 90 - DENG104_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_I

Unit 8: The World is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth—Detailed Study

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Notes

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

8.2 Explanations

Lines 1-2
The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.
The poem opens with a complaint, saying that the world is out of whack and that people are
destroying themselves with consumerism (“getting and spending”). “The world is too much
with us” sounds odd, and could mean several things. It could mean that the world – life in
the city, contemporary society – is just too much, as in “This is too much for me, and I can’t
take it anymore.” The “world” might refer to the natural world instead of the city, in which
case it would mean that humanity is so busy that they don’t have time for the natural world
because “it’s too much.”
It could also mean mankind or society is a burden on the world, as in “there’s not enough
space for both man and the earth” or “mankind has upset a delicate balance.”
“Late and soon” is a strange phrase. It could mean “sooner or later,” or it could mean we’ve
done this recently or in the past (“late”) and will do it in the future as well (“soon”).

Lines 3-4

Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The poem’s tone of complaint continues as the speaker describes a rift between nature and
humanity. We get a potential clue as to the identity of at least one of those “powers” described
in line 2: the ability to feel, which we’ve lost because we’ve given our hearts away.

The phrase “little we see in Nature that is ours” is tricky, and can mean several, related things.
We’ve become so absorbed in consumerism – in another world – that we no longer seem a part
of nature. Alternatively, “Nature” can’t be “got” or “spent” – because it isn’t a commodity that
is manufactured – so it doesn’t seem like it has anything to offer us. A “boon” is a reward,
a benefit, or something for which to be thankful. “Sordid” means “base” or “vile.” The speaker
is being sarcastic here, almost as if he were saying “wow it’s so great that we’ve handed over
our hearts…not!”

Lines 5-8
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;
The poet elaborates on man’s alienation from nature, claiming that humanity is no longer
susceptible to the influence of the “Sea,” the “winds,” and basically everything else in nature.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 85