"The World Is Too Much With Us" Analysis

William Wordsworth’s poem “The World Is Too Much With Us” is a rather simple poem. This does not mean, however, that a deeper meaning cannot be found in a deeper understanding and reading of the poem. The second level of understanding, so to speak, is very similar to the literal reading. The implications to be understood from a more critical analysis of “The World Is Too Much With Us” reveals the depth of Wordsworth’s message.

Without reading between the lines, it is clear that Wordsworth is upset with the contemporary society and how materialistic it has become. This can be seen in the lines “Getting and spending, we lay waste to our powers” and “We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon.” Here, Wordsworth is speaking of how people want more and more and thus give away their hearts to not the One he thinks they should, but to the gods and goddesses of consumerism. Wordsworth says “For this, for everything, we are out of tune.” He means that materialism takes us away from achieving a sense of harmony with nature because we take time away from appreciating it by shopping or only being concerned with getting things. Wordsworth is so upset, he says that he wishes he were raised a Pagan so all he could see, all he could know, was the wonder and majesty of nature. This, he says, would make him happier, to see “Proteus rising from the sea” and to “hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.”

The main idea that Wordsworth was trying to present to his readers was that the materialistic mindset threw society out of harmony with nature, or the universe. It wasn’t right or normal. He called it a “sordid boon.” Sordid, by definition can mean morally ignoble. So, throughout this simple poem on the topic of the sins of society, deeper meanings are planted by the context of the poem. Wordsworth says “we lay waste to our powers,” powers meaning our ability to see, feel, sense, be, imagine, and even appreciate. Instead of partaking what Wordsworth believes to be the right thing to do, we waste our time on possessions that will not be with us in people’s memories or in our pocket books when we’ve passed on. He suggests that we should spend more time respecting nature because nature is no longer important to anyone: “It moves us not.” He also says that “Little we see in nature that is ours.” The reason people have left nature at the wayside is that you cannot possess nature. It belongs to no one, to everyone. You cannot buy the earth, the sea, the trees, or the flowers or the sky. Because of this, it had no dollar value which is what people at that time and even now put all their focus on. This age of Materialism and Industrialism is what puts everyone out of tune, “For this, for everything, we are out of tune.” People no longer see nature for what they should see it as. The environment suffered because of the industrial Revolution but no one really stopped it because “the ends justified the means.” This, I believe is the root of his anger. In his anger, Wordsworth makes a slightly defamatory exclamation: “Great God! I’d rather be/ A pagan…” in this line, Wordsworth declares he would rather have been raised a pagan. He says that being a pagan is better than knowing a life where God, or spirituality, has been eradicated, discounted, disrespected, or even laughed at. This statement is very emphatic especially for his time.

The most outstanding problem suggested in this poem is, unsurprisingly, materialism and its vices coupled with God’s apparent fall from favor. With the socio-economic movement called the Industrial Revolution came a psychological to accompany it: Materialism. Goods were being made faster and cheaper and more affordable. Now that more people could have more, that’s exactly what they wanted. As a slightly indirect consequence, people slowly turned away from God and spirituality in general. Praying didn’t put food on the table nor did it pay the rent. Work, entrepreneurship, and business did. Before long, spirituality went out the door. People didn’t have time for it or they blamed God for their troubles. Ironically, it wasn’t God society clung to in tough times, it was material things. The Bible tells us to relinquish our earthly possessions and to follow Christ by serving others. Well, people are selfish and serving others before oneself seems like a silly thing to do.

This was important to me because of the irony of the situation. I am in no way a firm believer. I do, however, defend God in this case. Society’s problems were self inflicted and they blame God. I cannot help but feel that seeing it in that way is utterly imbecilic. Moreover, contrary to my current status of believing, I tend to agree with Wordsworth. I, too, would rather have been raised a pagan so I could see the magnificence of nature and not the dollar value stamped across it by society. The more I learned about society and all its evils, some of which are necessities, the more I wish I didn’t know because sometimes, ignorance is bliss.