William Wordsworth's 'Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802' Analysis

William Wordsworth

  • Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Context: The Romantic Period

  • Generally mapped from the 1780s to the 1832 Reform Act.
  • Coincides with revolutions in the United States (1776) and France (1789), along with:
    • Societal transformations of the Industrial Revolution.
    • The rise of liberal movements and state counterrevolutionary measures.
    • The voicing of radical ideas like Parliamentary reform and expanded suffrage.
    • Public demonstrations.

The Industrial Revolution

  • Began in England.
  • Production shifted from homes to factories in cities.
  • Large-scale migration to cities.
  • Resulted in poor living conditions and suffering.
  • Child labor was prevalent, with children cleaning chimneys.
  • Increased disparity between the rich and poor.
  • Hygiene concerns and pollution.

Romantics and Social Change

  • Dedicated to social change and individual liberty.
  • Valued imagination and saw nature as transformative.
  • Sought escape from commerce and industry in nature.
  • Revolutionized the perception of life.
  • Focused on personal experience and emotions.
  • Public clocks were dictating daily life.

Nature for Romantics

  • Organic (self-sufficient living whole).
  • Embraced the philosophy of pantheism.
  • Nature was seen as life-giving and sustaining.
  • Valued individuality and experiential understanding.
  • Believed small, ordinary things contain great truth and beauty.
  • Nature possesses a universal quality accessible to all.
  • The Sublime.

Ambivalence in Romantic Poems

  • Romantic writing features different and competing voices.
  • Texts often debate explicitly or implicitly with each other.
  • Poets express radical ideas explicitly or allegorically.
  • This ambivalence is evident in Wordsworth’s "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802."

"Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802"

  • Published in Poems in Two Volumes, 1807.
  • Wordsworth is known as the "Poet of Nature" but also wrote about the city.
  • The poem romanticizes the city, particularly at its most natural, least city-like moment: early morning.

Poem Text

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!

Structure

  • Petrarchan or Italian sonnet.
    • Octave: Introduces London’s grandeur through visual imagery.
    • Sestet: Expresses the speaker’s personal impact.
  • Rhyme scheme: abbaabba cdcdcd.

Poem Analysis

  • Octave (Lines 1-8): Describes the speaker's view of the city from Westminster Bridge, emphasizing its beauty and the dullness of anyone who wouldn't appreciate it.
  • Sestet (Lines 9-14): Compares the city's beauty to nature and emphasizes the deep calm the speaker feels.

Detailed Line Analysis

Lines 1-8

  • L1: Hyperbole: "Earth has not anything to show more fair.". The speaker looks down from the bridge, city spread like a natural panorama. The beauty is attributed to the specific moment: silence, brightness, "smokeless air."
  • L2: Anastrophe: "Dull would he be of soul" emphasizes the dullness of someone who doesn't see the city's beauty.
  • L2-3: Enjambment: Thought continues to the next line.
  • L4: Simile and Personification: "This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning." The morning is a garment worn by the city.
    • Suggests concealment (ironic).
  • L4-5: "Now", "silent", "bare": Unusual moment echoing nature. The city is celebrated in its natural, least city-like moment (ironic).
  • L6: Symbols of industrial London are bright and glittering when silent and bare.
  • L4, 5, 6: The city isn't in conflict with nature; nature endows it with beauty.
  • L8: "smokeless" reminds us of the normal smoky air.
  • Adjectives "bright" and "glittering" have positive connotations when the city is silent and bare.
  • Irony: The speaker praises the city but celebrates it when it resembles nature, indirectly critiquing it.

Lines 9-14

  • L9-10: "Never did sun more beautifully steep / In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill". The city is more beautiful than nature at this moment.
  • L11: Emotional impact on the speaker + hyperbole (negative form: never, never) + emphasis on personal subjective experience ("I").
  • L12: Personification: "The river glideth at his own sweet will.". The river flows freely (ironic, as this will change when London wakes).
  • L13: Personification: Wordsworth brings a spirit to the city.
  • L14: Personification: The city's heart is “lying still” (paradoxical, as a still heart implies death, not sleep - ironic). The city's absence allows the beauty created by natural elements to be observed. Is the speaker really praising the city?
  • The reader realizes that nature creates the city's beauty. The poet beholds the city at its most natural and least city-like moment.

Irony and Tension

  • The poem seems to glorify the city, but a darker sense lurks behind the praise:
    • "Smokeless air" reminds us this isn't the normal condition.
    • Ships, towers, etc., passively submit to nature but will change when London wakes.
    • The river glides at its own will, but man-made activity will disrupt this calm.

Overall Irony and Ambivalence

  • The poem presents a romanticized picture of London, but it's an idealistic framing of a depopulated and immobile city viewed through nature.