The World Is Too Much With Us; Late And Soon

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

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 every thing, 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,[A] Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;[B] Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.[C]

The "pleasant lea" referred to in this sonnet is unknown. It may have been on the Cumbrian coast, or in the Isle of Man.

I am indebted to the Rev. Canon Ainger for suggesting an (unconscious) reminiscence of Spenser in the last line of the sonnet. Compare Dr. Arnold's commentary (Miscellaneous Works of Thomas Arnold, p. 311), and that of Sir Henry Taylor in his Notes from Books.--ED.

VARIANTS:

1807.

The ... MS.

1827.

... coming ... 1807.