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Composed upon Westminster Bridge,September 3, 1802From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Earth hath not anything to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass byA sight so touching in its majesty:This City now doth, like a garment, wearThe beauty of the morning; silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lieOpen unto the fields, and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steepIn his first splendor, 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!

"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" is a sonnet byWilliamWordsworth describing London and theRiver Thames, viewed from Westminster Bridgein the

early morning. It was first published in the collectionPoems in Two Volumesin 1807.

Contents[hide]

1 William Wordsworth

2 Context

3 Structure

4 Summary

5 Themes, language and

imagery

6 Dorothy Wordsworth

7 Notes

8 External links

[edit] William Wordsworth
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William Wordsworth was a Romantic poet. The Romantic Movement describes a group ofpeople who threw off the rigid scientific world created by Isaac Newton and his other followers.Wordsworth was one of the most well known romantic poets along with his close friend andcollaboratorSamuel Taylor Coleridge beginning a revolution in thought and expression. Hebelieved that through nature and communion with nature, we find happiness. He chose "rustic"people because:

"in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attaintheir maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language"(Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads, second edition).

[edit] Context

Westminster Bridge as it appeared in 1808, only a few years after the writing of the poem

The poem was written in 1802when Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, were going to Calais,to meet with his former French mistress Annette Vallon and Caroline, his illegitimate daughterby her. Wordsworth had not seen her since 1791 when he had expressed to her a wish to marrybut had been forced to return to Great Britain because of the increasing likelihood ofwar

between Britain and France. In 1802 the Treaty of Amiens once again allowed travel to France.Wordsworth now wished to marry his childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. The purpose of theirjourney was to arrive at a mutually agreeable settlement regarding Wordsworth's obligations toAnnette and Caroline and free his conscience to marry Mary.[1]

A coach they were travelling on paused on Westminster Bridge, and the view of the citysomewhat surprised Wordsworth. Despite the city being made totally of man, and not nature,Wordsworth was surprised at its beauty in the early sunlight.

Wordsworth's "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" can be closely compared with Blake's"London". "London" gives an impression of contempt for the city and what it has become, whilst"Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" is a looser, friendlier approach to a poem about London.

[edit] StructureThis poem is written in Petrarchan sonnet form. This scheme divides the poem into two- the firsteight lines (octave) and the next six (sestet). Between these two is a break called a volta whichemphasises the traditional change in mood or subject between the octave and sestet. In the firsteight, he describes early morning London in detail, and then goes on in the final six to comparethe city in that moment to natural wonders. The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDCDCD, as isfairly common for a Petrarchan sonnet.("Majesty" in the third line of this poem is changed to
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sound like "by" in the second line, by the poet himself in order to fulfill the ABBAABBA, rhymescheme of a Petrarchan sonnet.)

[edit] Summary

This section may contain original research. Please improve itby verifyingthe claims

made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may beremoved. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2011)

In the beginning of the poem, the poet is describing the beauty of the morning scene atWestminster Bridge. He says there is nothing more beautiful on earth a scene which is"touching in its majesty". Wordsworth puts the beauty of such a scene down to the "smokelessair", an unusual thing for London in the 19th century, and part of the beauty that only the earliestmorning can bring. He even goes so far as to suggest that no "valley, rock, or hill" has been sobeautifully lit by the early morning, which, considering Wordsworth's preference for rusticfigures and nature, would seem surprising until the penultimate line of the sonnet half-answersour questions. The beauty of the city is that it is sleeping. There are no people bustling about,there is no smoke... the sun (which note, is Nature) may only have such a deep effect on the city

at this time, before the city becomes a city whilst it is still just buildings.

[edit] Themes, language and imagery

This section may contain original research. Please improve itby verifyingthe claimsmade and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may beremoved. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2011)

The dominating theme in the poem is Nature. London is not introduced in its negative aspect, butit is inserted in natural scenery. The author describes the beauty of the city as the towers, thecathedrals, the theatres and the temples. Wordsworthpersonifies the city along with the earth andthe sun. This reiterates his conviction that the city, at this particular point of day, does not clash

with nature but becomes a part of it.In Wordsworth's view, the air is clean and only the light of the sun illuminates the city. The poettransmits to the readers the calm and the tranquillity described in his poem. There are neithersounds or noises, there is only silence. In Blake's poem, hearing is the prevailing sense. InWordsworth's one, it is the sight that emerges, while the hearing is absent. On the one hand inBlake's composition, the town is presented through the smoke that pervades the walls of theChurches. On the other hand, in Wordsworth's poem, London shows clean air and the sunilluminates the whole city.

In this poem, Wordsworth brings the scenery around him to life (an example of the Patheticfallacy). Wordsworth personifies the Earth by giving it a capital letter, and describing it ashaving the ability to "show". He also personifies the city, by describing it as wearing the morning

beauty "like a garment". The image of the sun is powerful, as it is referred to as "he", withactions described by diction such as "steep". This diction creates the image of sunlight slowlysubmerging into the Earth's splits. The river is personified when it is described as having its"own sweet will", and the houses are personified by their description of being asleep. Lastly, thecity itself is personified with the line "and all that mighty heart is lying still". Thesepersonifications again help us to draw the conclusion that Wordsworth is considering a sleepingcity as part of nature. The compact description of London in lines six and seven emphasize the
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compactness of the city, and long vowel sounds such as "glideth" and "silent" emphasize thecalm feeling of the occasion.

A view of the City of London from upriver (in the direction of Westminster Bridge) in 1808,which shows the sight of "ships, towers, domes" and the smoke which would have been familiarin 1802

The description "bright and glittering in the smokeless air" creates a distinct image of the clarityof the morning. These images combine to create a breathtaking image of the morning. Despitethis excitement created by the vivid descriptions, prevalent in this poem is a sense of calmness.The poem describes "a calm so deep" that "even the houses seem asleep".

The poem depicts a vivid scene that is yet another fond memory shared between Wordsworthand his sister. He uses beautiful language and clever literary devices, especially imagery, tomake the city come alive before the reader's eyes. The passionate picture that the poem paints isa memory that calms and placates.

The spondaicsubstitution or successive accented syllables lends emphasis to the emotionalfeeling that strikes the poet. Here is a romantic who spends most of his time in the Lake District,in fields of daffodils, exulting in an urban morning cityscape, unconcerned with the getting and

spending, buying and lending that he decries elsewhere.The poem, written in the Petrarchan sonnet form, describes the beauty of London in the earlymorning just when the sun rises. We perceive the beauty of the city not so much through thedescription of what can be seen as through a sense of the admiration of the speaker. It is as if heis looking at a wonder, at something that cannot be but is still there. This sense of admiration iscommunicated through the development of a strange paradox, which states the impossible unityof two contradictory things: the industrial city and the organic beauty of nature (cf. CleanthBrooks' analysis of this poem in his essay "The Language of Paradox"). This paradox isintroduced through the image of dress, which the rhymes of the octave highlight: the city is fair(beautiful) because it wears "like a garment" the natural beauty of the morning; but wearing thebeauty of the morning in fact means that the city is bare (naked): what it wears is just "the

smokeless air".The paradox is carried over and developed further in the sestet. The connection with the dressmetaphor is established through the image of the city being steeped in the light of the sun andthen the paradox is extended to the strange union of being dead (or asleep) and being alive. Thecity is now more beautiful and more alive than nature itself, but this is only so because it issteeped in the light of the sun and is thus deep asleep. The rhyming words steep deep asleephighlight these connections. As opposed to the city, which is "lying still", the natural parts of thelandscape, the sunlight, the "valley, rock, or hill" as well as the river are now active, they
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dominate over the sleeping city, as is emphasized by the rhyming words hill at their will lying still. The city, represented in the last line by the metaphor of the heart, is thus alive becauseit is dead, because it is inactive and is dominated by its natural environment.

The thematic development of the poem is seconded by the rhythms. The enjambments (and theeye rhyme) in the octave express the boundless admiration for this beautiful sight, the

overflowing emotion of the poet. This is further emphasized by the fact that although the lines ofthe Petrarchan sonnet in English should be iambic pentameters, none of these lines are exactlyiambic. Even where the rhythm gets very close to this (lines 3, 4, 5, and 12); the sentencestructure or a caesuradisrupts the smooth iambic rhythm. This is true of all the lines except thevery last one where the rhythms smoothes out and a perfect iambic pentameter ends the poem:"And all that mighty heart is lying still!"

One function of this metrical development is clearly to mark the end of the poem. Apart fromthis, however, the clear iambic rhythm also functions here on another level. By the sound effectit creates it contradicts the explicit verbal meaning of the line in which it appears. While the linesays that the "mighty heart" of the city "is lying still", the iambic rhythm gives us a strong senseof the beating of a heart. Thus the paradox that is developed all through the poem reaches its

final statement in this line. The city now is "lying still", it is dead, it is not itself, it is dominatedby its natural environment; and it is precisely because of this that it can come to life: the mightyheart begins to beat only when it is lying still.

[edit] Dorothy WordsworthDorothy Wordsworth, in her Journal July 31, 1802, described the scene seen by her and herbrother thus:-

"It was a beautiful morning. The city, St. Paul's, with the river, and a multitude of little boats,made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhungby their cloud of smoke, and they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly, withsuch a fierce light; that there was something like the purity of one of nature's own grand

spectacles."

[edit] Notes1. ^ "William Wordsworth: Biography"by Glenn Everett at The Victorian Web, accessed 7 January

2007

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

The Wordsworth Trust[hide]v d eWilliam Wordsworth

Topics Early life

PeopleSamuel Taylor ColeridgeRobert SoutheyDorothyWordsworth
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LyricalBallads

Preface to theLyrical Ballads "Anecdote for Fathers" "LucyGray" The Lucy poems ("She dwelt among the untroddenways", "A slumber did my spirit seal", "Strange fits of passionhave I known", "Three years she grew in sun and shower")The Matthew poems "Michael, a Pastoral" "She dwelt

among the untrodden ways" Tintern AbbeyWe are Seven

Later poetry

"Composed upon Westminster Bridge" "Elegiac Stanzas" "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" The Lucy poems("Itravelled among unknown men") "London, 1802" Ode:Intimations of ImmortalityResolution and Independence"The Solitary Reaper" "The World Is Too Much with Us"

The Recluse The ExcursionThe Prelude

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"Composed upon Westminster Bridge"
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In lines 1 through 8, which together compose a single sentence, the speakerdescribes what he sees as he stands on Westminster Bridge looking out at the city.

He begins by saying that there is nothing "more fair" on Earth than the sight hesees, and that anyone who could pass the spot without stopping to look has a "dull"soul. The poem takes place in the "beauty of the morning," which lies like a blanketover the silent city. He then lists what he sees in the city and mentions that the city

seems to have no pollution and lies "Open unto the fields, and to the sky."

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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.

In lines 9 through 14, the speaker tells the reader that the sun has never shone

more beautifully, even on nature ("valley , rock, or hill"), and that he has neverseen or felt such deep calm. He goes on to describe the way that the river (which

he personifies) glides along at the slow pace it chooses. The poem ends with anexclamation, saying that "the houses seem asleep" and the heart of the city is still.

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!

Analysis


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"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" is an Italian sonnet,written in iambic pentameter with ten syllables per line. The rhyme scheme of the

poem is abbaabbacdcdcd. The poem was actually written about an experience thattook place on July 31, 1802 during a trip to France with Wordsworth's sister,Dorothy Wordsworth.

The poem begins with a rather shocking statement, especially for a Romantic poet:"Earth has not anything to show more fair." This statement is surprising becauseWordsworth is not speaking of nature, but of the city. He goes on to list the

beautiful man-made entities therein, such as "Ships, towers, domes, theatres andtemples." In fact, nature's influence isn't described until the 7th line, when the

speaker relates that the city is "open to the fields, and to the sky." While the cityitself may not be a part of nature, it is certainly not in conflict with nature. Thisbecomes even more clear in the next line, when the reader learns that the air is"smokeless" (free from pollution).

Wordsworth continues to surprise his reader by saying that the sun has nevershone more beautifully, even on natural things. He then personifies the scene,

giving life to the sun, the river, the houses, and finally to the whole city, which hasa symbolic heart. The reader imagines that the city's heart beats rapidly during theday, while everything and everyone in it is bustling about, but now, in the earlymorning hours, the city's heart is "lying still." By using personification in his poem,

Wordsworth brings a kind of spirit to the city, which is usually seen as a simpleconstruction of rock and metal.

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Poetry analysis: Upon Westminster Bridge, by WilliamWordsworth

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Wordsworth's sonnet Composed upon Westminster

Bridge, September 3, 1802 falls into the category of Momentary Poems. The poet is

describing what he sees, thinks and feels on a specific day at a specific moment.Had September 3, 1802, been a dismal day of rain, fog or overcast skies, we would

not have this lyric to enjoy. Fair weather is often an inspirational awakening to the

muse of poetry.

Though the fact has little bearing on the poem, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy had traveledto London to take a ship to France, where Wordsworth's mistress Annette Vallon was living withthe ten-year-old Caroline, whom Wordsworth had sired but had never seen. The coach takinghim and his sister to the seaside dock paused on the Westminster Bridge that crosses the Thames.Looking back in the brilliant morning sunlight at the sleeping city of London, the poet composedhis Petrarchan sonnet in a tone peaceful and serene.

He presents a panorama of London, commencing with two metrically irregular lines of 5 accents.I will convey my scansion by placing the stressed syllables in capitals.

EARTH HAS not ANYthing to SHOW more FAIR:DULL would he BE of SOUL who could PASS BY

(And then lines of regular iambic pentameter:)
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A SIGHT so TOUCHing IN its MASterY;This CITy NOW doth, LIKE a GARment, WEARThe BEAUty OF the MORning: SIlent, BARE,

The spondaic substitution or successive accented syllables lends emphasis to the emotionalfeeling that strikes the poet. Here is a romantic who spends most of his time in the Lake Country,

in fields of daffodils, exulting in an urban morning cityscape, unconcerned with the getting andspending, buying and lending that he decries elsewhere.

The second quatrain generalizes about the skyline shapes without detailing them. (And I shallabandon my scansion so as not to insult the reader's intelligence and sense.) The poet haspersonified London through his use of the simile "like a garment" and the verb "wear." Thecatalogue of manmade structures includes "Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples."Paradox intrudes as the garment worn by the city is bright and glittering sunshine that does notconceal, clothe, or protect but emphasizes bare beauty.

The next personifications are of the sun and the river. The verb "steep" in the opening of thesestet can support a variety of definitions including cleansing, softening, bleaching, bathing,imbuing. The personified morning sun performs these actions on "valley, rock, or hill."

The magic performed by the sun on the City, while the Thames "glideth at his own sweet will,"induces in the poet a feeling of calm, as though the personified houses were peacefully asleep,and the mighty, throbbing heart of the metropolis is wrapped in stillness.

"Dull would [they] be of soul" who do not feel the power and excitement of this lyric.

For another example of momentary poems, note the specific temporal and seasonal references inthis lyric of Robert Browning with its memorable final lines.

The year's at the springAnd the day's at the morn;Morning's at seven;The hillside's dew-pearled;

The lark's on the wing;The snail's on the thorn:God's in his heavenAll's right with the world!

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Poetry analysis: Upon Westminster Bridge, by William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was great English poet who gave English literature a new direction.

He began a romantic era in English

Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth is a romantic poemwhich captures the image of a peaceful
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by Kerry Michael Wood

Wordsworth's sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 falls intothe category of Momentary Poems. The

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13/21

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Created on: December 24, 2008 Last Updated: October 17, 2011

Wordsworth's sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 falls into thecategory of Momentary Poems. The poet is describing what he sees, thinks and feels on aspecific day at a specific moment. Had September 3, 1802, been a dismal day of rain, fog orovercast skies, we would not have this lyric to enjoy. Fair weather is often an inspirationalawakening to the muse of poetry.






The spondaic substitution or successive accented syllables lends emphasis to the emotionalfeeling that strikes the poet. Here is a romantic who spends most of his time in the Lake Country,in fields of daffodils, exulting in an urban morning cityscape, unconcerned with the getting andspending, buying and lending that he decries elsewhere.

The second quatrain generalizes about the skyline shapes without detailing them. (And I shallabandon my scansion so as not to insult the reader's intelligence and sense.) The poet haspersonified London through his use of the simile "like a garment" and the verb "wear." Thecatalogue of manmade structures includes "Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples."
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14/21

Paradox intrudes as the garment worn by the city is bright and glittering sunshine that does notconceal, clothe, or protect but emphasizes bare beauty.







Learn more about this author, Kerry Michael Wood.

Click here to send this author comments or questions.



1 of 3

by Amul

William Wordsworth was great English poet who gave English literature a new direction.He began a romantic era in English

2 of 3

by Dr Ronnie Bai

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16/21

3 of 3


Created on: December 24, 2008 Last Updated: October 17, 2011

Wordsworth's sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 falls into thecategory of Momentary Poems. The poet is describing what he sees, thinks and feels on aspecific day at a specific moment. Had September 3, 1802, been a dismal day of rain, fog orovercast skies, we would not have this lyric to enjoy. Fair weather is often an inspirationalawakening to the muse of poetry.






The spondaic substitution or successive accented syllables lends emphasis to the emotionalfeeling that strikes the poet. Here is a romantic who spends most of his time in the Lake Country,in fields of daffodils, exulting in an urban morning cityscape, unconcerned with the getting andspending, buying and lending that he decries elsewhere.

The second quatrain generalizes about the skyline shapes without detailing them. (And I shallabandon my scansion so as not to insult the reader's intelligence and sense.) The poet haspersonified London through his use of the simile "like a garment" and the verb "wear." Thecatalogue of manmade structures includes "Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples."
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17/21

Paradox intrudes as the garment worn by the city is bright and glittering sunshine that does notconceal, clothe, or protect but emphasizes bare beauty.







Learn more about this author, Kerry Michael Wood.

Click here to send this author comments or questions.



1 of 3

by Amul

William Wordsworth was great English poet who gave English literature a new direction.He began a romantic era in English

2 of 3

by Dr Ronnie Bai

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18/21

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.

..

Composed Upon

Westminster BridgeA Poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

A Study Guide

Cummings Guides Home..|..Contact This Site.
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19/21

Type of

Work

Composition and

PublicationSetting Inspiration

Theme Rhyme Scheme MeterText and

Summary

Imagery Study QuestionsWriting

TopicsBiography

.Compiled by Michael J. Cummings... 2009

.

Type of Work

......."Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" is a lyric poem in the formof a sonnet. In English, there are two types of sonnets, the Petrarchanand the Shakespearean, both with fourteen lines. Wordsworth's poem

is a Petrarchan sonnet, developed by the Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374), a Roman Catholic priest. A Petrarchan sonnet consists of aneight-line stanza (octave) and a six-line stanza (sestet). The first stanzapresents a theme or problem, and the second stanza develops thetheme or suggests a solution to the problem. The rhyme of aPetrarchan sonnet is discussed underRhyme Scheme and Meter,below.

Composition and Publication

.......William Wordsworth completed the poem between July 31 andSeptember 3, 1802. Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme published thework in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, a collection of Wordworth'spoems.

Setting

.......The setting is London as seen from Westminster Bridge, whichconnects the south bank of the Thames River with Westminster on thenorth bank. Westminster, called an inner borough, is now part ofLondon.

Inspiration

.......Wordsworth's inspiration for the poem was the view he beheldfrom Westminster Bridge on the morning of July 31, 1802, when mostof the residents were still in bed and the factories had not yet stokedtheir fires and polluted the air with smoke. He and his sister, Dorothy,were crossing the bridge in a coach taking them to a boat for a trip

across the English Channel to France. In her diary, Dorothy wrote:We mounted the Dover Coach at Charing Cross. It was a beautiful

morning. The City, St. Paul's, with the River and a Multitude of little

boats, made a most beautiful sight.... The houses were not overhung

with their cloud of smoke and they were spread out endlessly, yet the

sun shone so brightly with such pure light that there was even

something like a purity of Nature's own grand spectacles.
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20/21

Theme: Seeing the City in a New Light

.......London during the workday was rude and dirty. A walk across abridge or through streets and alleyways confronted the pedestrian withsmoke, dust, grimy urchins, clacking carts, ringing hammers, barking

dogs, jostling shoppers, smelly fish, rotting fruit. But at dawn on acloudless morning, when London was still asleep and the fires offactories had yet to be stoked, the city joined with nature to present theearly riser a tableau of glistening waters, majestic towers, unpeopledboats on the River Thames--bobbing and swaying--and the glory ofempty, silent streets. The message here is that even an ugly, quacking

duckling can become a lovely, soundless swan.

Rhyme Scheme and Meter

.......The rhyme scheme of "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" andother Petrarchan sonnets is as follows: (1) first stanza (octave): abba,abba; (2) second stanza (sestet): cd, cd, cd (or another combination,

such as cde , cde ; cdc , cdc ; or cde , dce .

.......The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter, with ten syllables(five iambic feet) per line. (An iambic foot consists of an unstressedsyllable followed by a stressed syllable.) The first two lines of the poem

demonstrate the metric pattern:

...

Earth HAS..|..not AN..|..y THING..|..to SHOW..|..more FAIR:

........1....... . ..2......... ....3.................4.................5

Dull WOULD..|..he BE..|..ofSOUL| who COULD..|..pass BY

..

Composed Upon

Westminster BridgeBy William Wordsworth

Text With Summary

a...Earth has not anything to show more

fair:b...Dull would he be of soul who could pass

byb...A sight so touching in its majesty:

a...This City now doth like a garment weara...The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,b...Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and

temples lieb...Open unto the fields, and to the sky,a...All bright and glittering in the smokeless

air.......8


21/21

c...Never did sun more beautifully steepd...In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;c...Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!d...The river glideth at his own sweet will:

c...Dear God! the very houses seemasleep;d...And all that mighty heart is lying

still!...............14

Summary

The first eight lines present a view of thecity as it wears the sunlit morning like agarment and its edifices glitter beneath thesky. The last six lines then boldly declarethat this man-made "formation" is just asbeautiful in the sunlight as any naturalformation, such as a valley or hill.Moreover, it is just as calming to theobserver, for even the houses seem tosleep, like the people in them.

Imagery

.......The most striking figure of speech in the poem is personification. Itdresses the city in a garment and gives it a heart, makes the sun "in hisfirst splendour" a benefactor, and bestows on the river a will of its own.

.......Examples of other figures of speech in the poem are as follows:

Line 2, alliteration: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

Line 3, alliteration: A sight so touching in its majesty

Lines 4, 5 simile: This City now doth like a garment wear / The beauty

of the morning: silent bare (comparison of beauty to a garment)Line 13: metaphor: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

(comparison of houses to a creature that sleeps)

Study Questions and Writing Topics

Write a poem describing a view of your community at dawn or

at sunset.

Can the theme of the poem apply to a person? In other words,does a person change in relation to his or her environment or

in relation to the time of day or another factor?

Write an essay that compares and contrasts the tone andtheme of "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" with the tone

and theme of Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much With Us."

What is the meaning ofin his first splendour(line 10)?
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composed upon west minster bridge

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