The version of the poem used to create this study guide appears in: Applebaum, Stanley, editor. English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology. Dover Publications, Inc., 1996. Parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

"The World is Too Much with Us" is one of William Wordsworth's most prominent works. The poem, an Italian sonnet, was first published in the collection Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807, and came primarily as a response by the poet to the First Industrial Revolution in England and the ensuing predominance of materialism that it brought to English society. The poem begins with the speaker criticizing the impacts of materialism on humanity, decrying the way in which it severs the ties between humans and nature. As a solution to this problem, the speaker suggests a turn toward Paganism as a means of reconnecting with nature, believing that placing one's faith in the divinity of the natural world is more conducive to inner happiness than material gain.

Typical of the Italian sonnet form, the poem is divided into two parts. The first eight lines, or octet, presents the reader with a problem, while the final six lines, or sestet, offers a solution to that problem. Wordsworth uses the form in order to call for social change and uphold his own ideals, specifically the value of a relationship with nature and the importance of moral contentment.