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

because it has fourteen lines; is written in iambic pentameter, that is five feet; written in Notes
iambs; a unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. It begins with two quatrains in the octave,
first eight lines, rhyming ABBAABBA; the sestet, final six lines, rhymes CDCDCD; it has a
volta in line eight; and the theme is about nature.
Wordsworth intended to highlight the fact that we receive nature in its abundance but see
very little, and have given our hearts away. We need to get up and pay attention because we
are out of tune with nature. “Great God,” how could we do such a thing. Wordsworth highlights
that information be subtly varying the meter. As well, the poet symbolizes nature in the past
by suggesting he would rather be “A Pagan,” which is pre-Christian. Nature itself is symbolized
in Proteus and Triton. Proteus is the shape-changing herdsman of the sea; Triton, usually
depicted blowing a conch shell, is a sea deity. As with much of Wordsworth’s work, he sees
deity in nature.

Although this sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, it does have eight variations. The variations
are purposeful; to obtain the attention of the reader. In this case, the variations are in line two,
the word “Getting” is a trochee; a stressed and unstressed syllable; line three, the word “Little”
is a trochee; a stressed and unstressed syllable; line four, the word “given” is a trochee; a
stressed and unstressed syllable; line seven, the phrase “And are up” is an anapest; an unstressed,
unstressed and stressed syllable; line eight, the words “we are” and “out of” represent two
trochees; a stressed and unstressed syllable, and “tune” is a single spondee; a single stressed
syllable; line nine “Great God” is a spondee; a stressed and stressed syllable.

Self Assessment

Choose the correct option:
1. Unlike society, Wordswoth does not see nature as a

(a) beauty (b) commodity
(c) companion (d) none of these
2. Water has always been a symbol of
(a) new beginnings (b) new endings

(c) new hopes (d) none of these
3. Triton was a son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the
(a) heavan (b) hell
(c) sea (d) none of these
4. “The World is Too Much with Us” is obsessed with
(a) God (b) nature

(c) humans (d) none of these.

8.8 Summary

• Angrily, the speaker accuses the modern age of having lost its connection to nature and
to everything meaningful: “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!” He says
that even when the sea “bares her bosom to the moon” and the winds howl, humanity
is still out of tune, and looks on uncaringly at the spectacle of the storm. The speaker
wishes that he were a pagan raised according to a different vision of the world, so that,

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