Language and style

Addressing the language and the style of the poem “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth is an important step in your analysis, as it can help you better understand the poet, his message and the features of the literary period he lived in.

Playing with the language

In “The World Is Too Much with Us”, the poet plays with language in two ways, through the title and through figurative speech and metaphors.

The title – which is also the starting line in the poem – can be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, it may refer to the fact that people are an overwhelming factor in the world. A world dominated by people makes the natural surroundings fall on the second place and seem less important. On the other hand, the fact that the world is “too much with” can be seen as a direct reference to an overwhelming industrialisation which is difficult to handle by the poet and society.

The poet is also playful with language using metaphors such as “sordid boon” (l. 4), which is also an oxymoronic association indicating a ‘disgusting benefit’, namely industrialisation. Furthermore, the poet associates natural elements with “sleeping flowers” (l. 7) and personifies the sea and the moon, turning them into a loving couple: “This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,...