William Wordsworth’s The World Is Too Much With Us

William Wordsworth and “The World Is Too Much With Us”

William Wordsworth wrote a sonnet entitled “The World Is Too Much With Us” to criticize the First Industrial Revolution, which brought materialism and a distancing from nature. It was written around 1802 and first published in Poems, in Two Volumes.

Petrarchan Sonnet

Wordsworth’s poem, “The World is Too Much With Us,” is an example of a Petrarchan sonnet. This type of sonnet is recognizable by its eight-syllable structure and rhyme scheme. It paints a picture of the incredible power of nature and comments on humankind’s relationship with it.

Context of the Poem

The poem was written in the early nineteenth century, and was first published in Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807. Many critics consider Wordsworth to be at his creative peak at this time, and it was published during a period of his life when his work was most popular. During this time, Lord Byron published a bad review of “The World is Too Much With Us.”

The Petrarchan Sonnet Form

The Petrarchan sonnet is a form of poetry that has been used for several centuries. Its structure is unique among the forms of poetry in Western literature, and has retained its popularity for five centuries. Although Petrarch did not invent the sonnet, he was a key player in the development of the form. His Canzoniere contained 317 sonnets and addressed a fictional character named Laura, establishing the Petrarchan sonnet. This style of poetry is still popular today.

Petrarchan sonnets have strict conventions regarding volta. This is because voltas mark emotional changes. They act as climaxes in the poems. They are usually found at the end of the octave or at the beginning of the sestet.

The Petrarchan sonnet is a classic Italian form. It is fourteen lines long, follows a strict rhyme scheme, and is written in iambic pentameter. However, there are several variations to this form. For example, a Petrarchan sonnet uses a two-stanza structure with rhyme schemes of ABBAABBA and CDECDE.

Shakespearean Sonnet

Another type of Petrarchan sonnet is the Shakespearean sonnet. Shakespeare uses a similar structure for his sonnet, but he often uses different devices. In the first stanza, he compares his lady love’s beauty to the beauty of nature. He then changes subject in the last stanza.

Italian Sonnet Form

In addition to being a Petrarchan sonnet, this poem also features Italian sonnet form. The poet begins each sonnet with a problem or a proposition. In this poem, the problem is that humankind has lost its relationship with nature. The poem emphasizes this loss in three angles, including the relationship between humans and nature. Unfortunately, the author does not offer any solutions to restore this lost relationship.

The Petrarchan sonnet is structured in two different parts, the octave (eight lines) and the sestet (six lines). The octave often proposes a problem and the sestet engages in resolution. The ninth line is the pivotal point of the poem and marks a change in direction.