Composed upon Westminster Bridge

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,
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 sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
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!

              – William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

• Composed by William Wordsworth (1770-1850), a Romantic English poet
• A Petrarchan sonnet (poem of 14 lines, rhyme scheme: abbaabbacdcdcd)
• Romanticization of the view sighted from Westminster bridge one early morning

Interpretation of the Poem

This poem by English poet William Wordsworth is a Petrarchan sonnet that has fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, divided into two parts: octave and sestet, and having the rhyme scheme abbaabbacdcdcd.

The poem is about a mesmerizing view sighted one early morning from the Westminster bridge over the Thames river in London. For the poet, the view is the most beautiful view on Earth, and only a dull soul would pass by without noticing it. That morning, London city has worn the garment of beauty. Everything is silent, no sound pollution, air is also clean and smokeless, the sun shines most beautifully, and the river flows beneath sweetly, and the calmness all this has evoked in him is of the deepest kind. As the houses of the city are still asleep (since it is very early morning), the London city referred to as ‘mighty heart’ for its great vitality is also lying still in sleep. Thus, William Wordsworth romanticizes/idealizes the view of the city and the surrounding as seen from the Westminster bridge of London one early morning.

The poet has used the literary devices of personification and hyperbole while describing the view in the poem. Earth shows, city wears, sun steeps, river glides, etc. are the examples of personification [giving human-like qualities to non-human things], and Earth has nothing to show more fair, never did sun more beautifully steep…, never saw I or felt a calm so deep, etc. are the examples of hyperbole [exaggeration].

GLOSSARY

doth (archaic) (v): does
glideth (archaic) (v): to glide
glittering (adj): shining
majesty (n): something of impressive and attractive quality
ne’er (adv): never
splendour (n): grand and impressive beauty
Westminster Bridge (n): a famous bridge over the Thames in London