The world is too much with us

     The central theme of Wadswoth's poem is that we have become distant from the order of nature, a criticism that is still relevant today. He claims that we are no longer in touch with the world describing it as "we are out of tune, it moves us not." The speaker emphasizes this growing unruliness by subtly adjusting stressed and unstressed syllables in the poem. The word choice of the poem is also very nature oriented using metaphors such as howling winds and sleeping flowers. He then expresses disdain for his religion as a Christian and wishes that he had been brought up Pagan, a religion pre-Christianity that is centered around nature. The speaker expresses that he would be happier to acknowledge Proteus or Triton, gods who are associated with the sea.