The World Is Too Much with Us

Wordsworth’s sonnet begins with the titular observation that the world “is too much with us” (Line 1). The world in question is not the natural world that Wordsworth idealizes throughout the poem but the man-made, industrial world he disdains. Wordsworth sees this new industrialized world as an overpowering and oppressive force that has robbed him and his fellow English citizens of their “powers” (Line 2). The pressure to be “getting and spending” (Line 2) at all times has made Wordsworth’s highly materialistic world feel inescapable and like it is “too much” (Line 1) or too often surrounding and influencing him. From the first line, Wordsworth despairs at his inability to find a reprieve from his consumerist society.

After acknowledging the constant, oppressive influence of the commercial world, Wordsworth notes, “Little we see in Nature that is ours” (Line 3). In addition to wasting their innate, personal powers, people also do not possess any part of nature; there is no knowledge or experience obtained through nature that they can recognize as their own. The capitalization of the word Nature signifies Wordsworth’s reverence for it and his regard for “Nature” as a distinct, almost deified entity.