LINES COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE by William Wordsworth

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent , bare, 5
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did the sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; 10
Ne’er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Earth has not anything to show more fair: * While crossing over the Westminster Bridge, the speaker makes a bold statement: he has found the most beautiful scene on the planet. * Of course, though, he's exaggerating. He really means something like, "At this particular moment, I can't imagine anywhere being more beautiful than the place I'm standing." It's almost more a reflection of his mood than of the outside world.
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty: * He says that anyone who didn't stop, who just passed by with a glance, would be "dull...of soul." * The person who could just pass by has been jaded and worn down by experience to the point of dullness. He's also boring, which is another meaning of the word "dull." * The sight from the bridge is "touching in its majesty," an intriguing phrase that suggests both intimacy and grandeur. "Touching" scenes are often small and intimate, like a kid giving flowers to his sick grandmother. "Majestic" scenes are often large and public, like a snow-covered mountain or a king entering a throne room. The view from Westminster Bridge combines both this elements.
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; * We learn what time it is: London "wears" the morning like a nice coat or some other piece of clothing ("garment"). * These lines hint that maybe the morning, not London itself, is responsible for the stunning quality of the view. As in, the garment could be so beautiful that it doesn't matter what the person wearing it looks like. silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky; * The words "silent" and "bare" are positioned in the poem such that they could describe either the morning or the sights. Because of the semi-colon before them, the sights are the more obvious choice, but the ambiguity is important. * The setting is "silent" because of the early hour which, from Dorothy Wordsworth's journal, we know was around 5 or 6am. * "Bare" is an interesting word that means "naked". It contrasts with the image of the city wearing clothing from line 4. Here, the ships and buildings are nude. * One source points out that London had fields that were close to the city in 1802 but that no longer exist
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. * He focuses on the early morning summer sunlight, which makes the buildings "bright and glittering." The word "glittering" in particular suggests that the scene is not static but rather constantly changing with the shifting light. * Our favorite word in the poem is "smokeless." What a word. He means that neither the characteristic London Fog nor smoke from chimneys obscures the bright light.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; * The speaker returns to his bold claim from the beginning of the poem: that earth has never presented a scene quite so beautiful as this one. * Specifically, he compares the morning sunlight falling on the city to the sunlight that might cover more remote parts of the countryside, such as a valley, a boulder or mountainous cliff ("rock"), or a hillside. * These sights would have been more familiar to Wordsworth than the scenery of London, who spent most of his life in rural parts of England, such as the picturesque Lake District in the northwest part of the country. * " Basically, he's ragging on his hometown, saying even it can't compare with this view of London. * The word "steep" means to submerge or cover – think of how you let a tea bag "steep" in water.
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will: * The speaker seems to again compare London to places that you would normally think of as calming, like the hills and valleys from line 10. * This section of the poem engages in the personification of various elements of the picture. Here the river is described as a patient person who takes his time and doesn't allow himself to be rushed. He moves according to "his own sweet will." * The river Thames is not a fast-moving river.
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still! * You would think the speaker couldn't possibly get more excited about this view after declaring it the most beautiful thing on earth, but no: he gets more excited. * He cries out to God as if he has just recognized something astonishing he had not noticed before. * He personifies the houses as asleep, when it's actually the people inside the houses who are sleeping at this early hour. * The city looks like one big, peaceful, sleeping body. Shh...don't wake it. * The "heart" of this body is "lying still" for the moment before the city awakens for a new day. The heart probably doesn't refer to anything specific, but rather the city's energy or vitality.

* The last two lines mark a shift in tone with their two exclamation marks. The tone goes from amazed to Really Amazed!
Symbol Analysis
Wordsworth's claim that his vision of London is the best on earth is clearly an exaggeration, not to mention impossible to verify. But it's an innocent exaggeration, one that puts us "in the moment" of his passing experience. It's really not much different from an expression that many people use all the time nowadays: saying that such-and-such is the most fun ever, or the best movie ever, or the most awkward party ever. In other words, Wordsworth talks a little like a contemporary teenager. * Line 1: Earth, you really outdid yourself on this one. The claim that no sight is more beautiful than the view from Westminster Bridge is a case of hyperbole, or exaggeration. * Line 3: To say that something is "touching in its majesty" is almost a paradox, a contradiction in terms. A touching sight is intimate and personal, while a majestic one is grand and public. With this phrase, Wordsworth comes close to capturing the indescribable feeling of familiarity and distance all at once. * Lines 9-11: Lines 9 and 11 have a parallel structure, in which he claims that the effect of the morning light on London creates a beauty that has "never" been experienced before. As in the first line, these claims are hyperboles.
Wordsworth uses personification in several places in the poem, in reference to the city, sun, river, and houses. He creates the impression that nature is a living being with a soul. It's as if all these forces have decided to come together to treat the speaker to a "One Morning Only!" show of Nature's Greatest Marvels. * Line 4: The morning beauty is compared to clothing, a "garment," in a simile. Only people can wear clothing (OK, dogs can wear sweaters, too, but those are strangely disconcerting), so London must be personified. * Line 10: "His first splendour" is a roundabout way of talking about the sunrise. The sun is personified as a male. * Line 12: The river is personified as a person who likes to take things at his own pace. * Line 13: The houses are personified as sleeping people because the city is quiet and still. In reality, the people inside the houses are the ones who are asleep. * Line 14: The city is personified as a person with a heart. The heart is "lying still," perhaps because the city, like its houses, is asleep.
This poem is a classic example of someone being taken by surprise by beauty and just staring at it, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. On the other hand, the neatness and precision of the sonnet form might seem at odds with the speaker's spontaneous bursts of joy. We don't know too many people who speak in Petrarchan sonnets when they're happy. Also, the speaker spends a significant portion of the poem talking about how great the scenery is rather than describing it. The second half of the poem contains more description than the first.
The poem expresses the speaker's desire to stop time, to prevent the city from ever "waking up."The image of a beautiful garment implies that the city is like a blank canvas that nature adorns, rather than something possessing beauty on its own.
Wordsworth is the quintessential nature poet. In this poem, London seems like a part of nature rather than a separate sphere of existence. Contrast Wordsworth's attitude with the attitude of William Blake in his poem "London," from the Songs of Experience, in which the city teems with unnatural political and social problems. "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" takes the view that the city can be surprisingly restful, and the speaker goes so far as to compare it favorably with the solitude of nature.

The poem makes clear that London is not entirely responsible for its beauty in the morning. A number of factors, including the unusual absence of any fog and the way the light strikes the ships and buildings, combine to make a perfect scene. Because the speaker knows that such a combination does not happen very often, he thinks that a person would be foolish just to pass by, assuming there will always be other chances to see such beauty. The speaker believes you have to take advantage of such opportunities when you have them.
Questions
1. How does the use of personification contribute to the speaker's sense of awe? 1. How does the speaker's tone change in the last two lines? What do you think brings about this subtle change? 2. What is it about the early morning that makes the city appear different than at other times? 3. How do you explain the phrase, "so touching in its majesty" (line 3)? Why is this phrase almost like a paradox? 4. What is the purpose of the speaker's claim that only a dull person would be able to pass by a scene like this one?
Questions About Contrasting Regions: City and Countryside 1. Would you guess that the speaker is native or foreign to the city? Why? 2. Do you think that the speaker is aware that he is using exaggeration in calling the vision the most beautiful that earth has to offer? 3. Do you think that the Wordsworth's sense of calm had anything to do with the fact that he was in the process of leaving the city? Why or why not? 4. How do the poem's images juxtapose the city with the countryside? Where can you tell these two regions apart?
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

1. In the summer of 1802, William Wordsworth traveled with his sister, Dorothy, to Calais, France. They stopped in London where, as Dorothy charmingly wrote in her journal, they ran into "various troubles and disasters." Dorothy frequently traveled with her brother – the two were like best friends – and her journals provide an interesting counterpoint to Wordsworth's poetry. They left London early on the morning of July 31st, and Dorothy wrote about crossing over the famous Westminster Bridge to get out of town:

Left London between five and six o'clock of the morning outside the Dover coach. [Note from Shmoop: a coach is a small carriage drawn by horses.] A beautiful morning. The city, St Paul's, with the river – a multitude of little boats, made a beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge; the houses not overhung by their clouds of smoke, and were spread out endlessly; yet the sun shone so brightly, with such a pure light, that there was something like the purity of one of Nature's own grand spectacles.

Hmm, now this sounds familiar. Yes, it's the same scene described by her brother in "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802." Only poor Wordsworth got the date wrong when he published the poem under this title in 1807 – it was the end of July, not the beginning of September.

No matter. The poem is remembered not as a biographical record, but as a beautiful depiction of London in the morning, written in plain language that any Englishman could understand. Wordsworth apparently wrote the sonnet while sitting on top of his coach. Maybe he was so awed by the city because he didn't live there: he was a country mouse who spent much of his time up in the scenic Lake District of England. When he finally made his way into the city, he was like, "Whoa. This is actually pretty cool."

At this point in Wordsworth's career, in 1802, he was writing at the peak of his powers, having already published the hugely influential Lyrical Ballads with his friend and fellow genius Samuel Taylor Coleridge. "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" was not published until 1807, in Poems in Two Volumes. Why Should I Care?
"Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" captures the feeling of those lucky moments when it seems that the tired, old world is made completely new again. Everything becomes simple and bright, like a freshly-minted penny. Everyone, we assume, has these feelings at one time or another, whether on the first day of spring or after falling in love or, as in William Wordsworth's case, while traveling. You think to yourself, "Yup. This is it. I couldn't possibly find a more beautiful vision than this." And it's true, because if you were to go hunting for beautiful sights, even that activity would probably get old after a while.

Instead, that "freshly-minted penny" feeling tends to come when we least expect it. For Wordsworth, it happened as he rode across the Westminster Bridge in his coach. We imagine him all groggy at 6 in the morning, and then he looks out the window is like, "Whoa, there, stop the coach!" And he hops out, climbs atop the coach, stares out at the scene, and jots down the notes that will become this poem.

As you probably know, the feeling of newness usually comes when you're actually looking at something new or unusual. Even if you lived in the most scenic place on earth, you'd probably grow accustomed to it after a while. In fact, Wordsworth did live in one of the most scenic places on earth, the Lake District in England. Although he had been to London before, it still felt like a different world to him. On the other hand, if he had lived in London, he might not have been so impressed. Contrast this sonnet with a poem written about a decade before by William Blake, called "London":

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

Pretty bleak, right? Well, Blake lived in London for much of his life, so he had grown painfully aware of the grunginess of the city, not to mention the injustices it contained. It just goes to show how a change of scenery can make a great difference in whether the world looks fresh or faded. Whenever you start to fall into a rut, it might be time to take a trip to see new sights and new people

The sonnet’s octave is a minute description of the early morning scene that unfolds before the poet’s eyes; the sestet his reflections on the impact of what is being described. Because of its graphic details the poem manages to be both objective and personal; meaning it is both visually vivid and true to Wordsworth’s feelings, which he enables us to share.

Question: What impression of London does the poet create and how is this achieved?
Sample Answer:
The sonnet “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” written by William Wordsworth reflects on the poet’s love of nature, and describes the magnificent sun rise over London. His thoughts and feelings are displayed in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, with the “abba abba cdc dcd” rhyme scheme, and the eight-lined octave which sets the scenario of the poem, and the six-lined sestet which respondes and contains a bit of his opinion. Through this form, we are able to grasp its message more effectively as the content is more compact in the limitations of the rules of the sonnet, and the theme is therefore more intense. By using the Petrarchan rhyming pattern, the poet is able to emphasize his feelings of love and beauty for that morning.
In the octave of the poem, the scene, London, is established and described. “Earth has not anything to show more fair”, the first line, starts the poem off unexpectedly with great exaggeration. This hyperbole emphasizes the depth of Wordsworth’s feelings. The next line begins with the word “dull” which uses syntax, as the poet created an odd rearrangement of words in order for “dull” to be stressed when read out, which signifies its meaning. Wordsworth then uses examples of personification and simile. “The City now doth, like a garment, wear the beauty of the morning”, is a meaningful simile to use as it implies to the reader that the beauty of this sun rise will be gone and removed as the day comes, but will appear again the next day – just as one wears clothes, sheds them, and then puts on fresh clean ones the next day. It suggests that beauty does not last forever, and will not be “worn” as the sun goes down. The personification in this line is also significant to how Wordsworth creates his impression of London because it creates a somewhat artistic beauty in the readers mind. Personification also helps readers to picture the scene, and describe it in everyday motions that people will be able to comprehend. Words and phrases such as “beauty”, “silent, bare”, “open” and “bright and glittering” can be found throughout the octave, and provide imagery, allowing for the reader to easily picture what Wordsworth experienced. Through these descriptive words, the poet shares his awe and admiration of the dazzling sight and are essential to help him convey his message. In addition, “silent, bare” gives a sense of tranquility in the area, not only setting a calm tone and atmosphere, but also hinting harmony with nature. The inactivity inferred here gives the sense of no human life, with only the narrator, and the individuality makes it seem more beautiful. This is highlighted in the next line, “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie” as this use of personification once again demonstrates that London is somewhat alive, emitting fascination so elegant that he can only marvel in admiration. Furthermore, Wordsworth may have used personification because he thought what he was seeing was so stunning and unbelievable that it deserved to be given human characteristics. The word “open” alongside with “fields” and “sky” present the idea that the beauty is vast and endless, stretching throughout fields and reaching up to the sky.
William Wordsworth’s choice of voice, the 1st person narrative, is also appropriate as it suggests that he is involved, and lets us hear from his opinions and thoughts. The sights from the city that he shows us in the content of the octave – the city at rest, the first glimpse of sunlight, fits in perfectly with the Romantic genre of poetry, as it depicts a landscape with a direct emphasis on nature. The tone of the poem is enchanted, as he writes in awe and peacefulness, and this further illustrates the depth of the poet’s feelings. Adding on to the concept of peace and tranquility, the pace of the poem is slow, as if the city is sleeping and not yet awoken through sunrise. The rhyming pattern (abba abba) is repeating and regular, which gives a pulse to the poem like a heartbeat of the city, and its consistency reminds readers of nature or the breath of sleep.
The sestet focuses more on nature rather than the city, as the octave did. Again, there is use of hyperbole, in the opening word “Never”. Instead of simply stating “the sun never more beautifully steep” the poet writes “Never did the sun more beautifully steep”, which despite the unfamiliar word ordering, emphasizes the depth of his feelings towards nature, and shows a definite line dividing the octave and sestet, so readers can observe the change between the two. Hyperbole is used again in the third line of the sestet, for emphasis. There also is a lot of personification – “The river glideth at his own sweet will” and “the very houses seem asleep” and “mighty heart is lying still”. Personification helps to provide life to the poem, making it more interesting for the reader, as well as stressing the beauty of the place. It shows the reader that the place is so beautiful, there is not a difference from man. “Never felt a calm so deep” in the third line suggests to the reader that this really is a special, outstanding place to the poet. The punctuation in the fifth line – “Dear God!” strengthens his feelings, and assures readers how important and significant this beautiful sight means to him.
The sestet dramatically changes from the octave, not only in length, but in tone. There are a lot more exclamations, “so deep!”, “dear God!” and “lying still!”, which changes the pace. In the octave, it was slow, but there seems to be more energy in the sestet, and the pace is faster and more lively. This fits in well with the use of human characteristics in the personification throughout the sestet. The rhyme scheme is cdcdcd, and this constant, shorter rhyming pattern also quickens the pace.
This sonnet, despite its ridged formality, did not limit Wordsworth capability in exploring and portraying the beauty of the sunrise over Westminster bridge for the readers; instead, it gives readers a more intense account from an unusual perspective of descriptive writing, which in the end, helps to signify the beauty of London in the morning.