Study Questions

1. The poem begins with the speaker complaining about people's values in the modern world. What exactly is he saying? What does he mean by "the world"? What does he think people are preoccupied with now?
2. How does this situation affect the speaker?
3. How does the speaker define nature?  Consider the images of sea, flower, and the mythological allusions to Proteus and Triton.
4. What does the speaker of this poem think people in the modern world should do?
5. This poem is a type of poem called a  "sonnet."  Look up the word "sonnet" in your handbook and describe the characteristics of a sonnet. How does the form (e.g. the rhythm, rhyme and meter) of this poem support its content?

1.  Compare "The World is Too Much with Us" with "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud".
2. Is "the world" too much with you?  How do you define "the world" today and how is it different from Wordsworth's?