The poem contains some ideas and lines for which Wordsworth is most famous "The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending" is often quoted as an essential rejection of contemporary life by the Romantic poets. Modern life, it says, is crass and commercial, paying no attention to truths that previously mattered. This idea expresses deep alienation and even pain at having to live in a time that holds none of the ancient beliefs that formerly gave people hope. The phrase "We have given our hearts always" makes it clear that the poet feels deep sadness and loss at living in his own time. Wordsworth’s youthful idealism was based on his love of nature and hopes for human betterment during the French Revolution. The idealism led him to conclude that first years of the new 19th century were deeply injurious for the well-being of mankind. Excessive industrialization and spoilage of the land convinced him there was little to rejoice over to hope for. He says that both "late and soon", people have become powerless to recapture meaning for lives that are fully "out of tune".