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).