On Westminster Bridge
On his way to war-torn France, William Wordsworth passed through London and was overwhelmed by the quiet of the early morning.
1802
King George III 1760-1820
On his way to war-torn France, William Wordsworth passed through London and was overwhelmed by the quiet of the early morning.
1802
King George III 1760-1820
The following Sonnet was written, William Wordsworth recalled, “on the roof of a coach, on my way to France.” It was July 1802, and he was off with his sister Dorothy to visit his old flame Annette Vallon and their daughter Caroline; he had not seen Annette since the French Revolution had so cruelly parted them nearly ten years before. His journey from London took him across Westminster Bridge at dawn.
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;
The 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’s sister Dorothy recorded the moment in her diary: “July 30, 1802. Left London between five and six o’clock of the morning, outside the Dover coach. 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, 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. Arrived at Calais at four in the morning of July 31st.” Wordsworth had been forced to leave France late in 1792, at the height of the French Revolution. His sincere attempts to bring Annette and Caroline to England looked doomed after France and Britain went to war in February 1793, and ended when his Uncle William absolutely refused to help the penniless poet to find money for any such purpose. William married Mary Hutchinson in October 1802.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.