WIlliam Wordsworth, "The World is Too Much With Us"

The world is too much with us
by William Wordsworth

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;	5
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;	10
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.



world — At this time, the word world referred specifically to the human world, meaning civilization and society. It was distinct from Nature, with which Wordsworth contrasts it in line 3.

late — recently

Proteus — a Greek sea god whose power was to change shape at will

Triton — Another Greek sea god, Triton had a human head and torso and a fish-like lower half, like a merman (the male version of a mermaid).