The World Is Too Much with Us
"The World Is Too Much with Us" is a sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. In it, Wordsworth criticises the world of the First Industrial Revolution for being absorbed in materialism and distancing itself from nature. Composed circa 1802, the poem was first published in "Poems, in Two Volumes" (1807). Like most Italian sonnets, its 14 lines are written in iambic pentameter. Theme. In the early 19th century, Wordsworth wrote several sonnets blasting what he perceived as "the decadent material cynicism of the time." "The World Is Too Much with Us  is one of those works. It reflects his view that humanity must get in touch with nature to progress spiritually. The rhyme scheme of this poem is a-b-b-a", "a-b-b-a", "c-d-c-d", "c-d". This Italian or Petrarchan sonnet uses the last six lines (sestet) to answer the first eight lines (octave). The first eight lines (octave) are the problems and the next six (sestet) are the solution.