<P> The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up - gathered now like sleeping flowers, For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not .--Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn . </P> <P> "The World Is Too Much with Us" is a sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth . In it, Wordsworth criticises the world of the First Industrial Revolution for being absorbed in materialism and distancing itself from nature . Composed circa 1802, the poem was first published in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807). Like most Italian sonnets, its 14 lines are written in iambic pentameter . </P> <P> In the early 19th century, Wordsworth wrote several sonnets blasting what he perceived as "the decadent material cynicism of the time ." "The World Is Too Much with Us" is one of those works . It reflects his view that humanity must get in touch with nature to progress spiritually . The rhyme scheme of this poem is a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-c-d, c-d . This Italian or Petrarchan sonnet uses the last six lines (sestet) to answer the first eight lines (octave). The first eight lines (octave) are the problem and the next six (sestet) is the solution . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article possibly contains original research . Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations . Statements consisting only of original research should be removed . (March 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table>

What is the theme of the poem the world is too much with us