In “Composed upon Westminster Bridge”, William Wordsworth claims that the morning view of London while upon the bridge is one of the greatest things that the Earth has to shoe. He states that the “Earth has not anything to show more fair” which makes the claim that this perspective of London in the early morning light is the most amazing thing that the world has to offer. Wordsworth makes note of the way that the morning beauty clothes the entire city making it impossible to not see its wonder unless a person a truly dull with no vision of how amazing the image actually can be to the world. The calm that he experiences at looking upon the morning sun over London is one only due to the silence of the city as the buildings and businesses have yet to awaken and spoil the clear and calming air.
Wordsworth seems to fall into the realm of transcendentalism and the idea that spirituality can be found when a person has the opportunity to walk alone with nature. In the third line, Wordsworth states that the view is “A sight so touching in its majesty”. By using the diction of “majesty” which is often a term used in connection with God, Wordsworth is implying that the sight has a type of spiritual quality to it at this time of day that would be hard for a person to miss, He goes on to make a list of things that are lying silent in the beauty of the morning such as “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples”. The list contains industrialized and often busy places that bring noise and clutter to the atmosphere when they are in full business. By making note of the silence and clarity that the morning brings to these places, Wordsworth seems to be making a movement against becoming too involved in the capital that people miss the value of the visual.
Throughout the poem, Wordsworth is presenting a picture of London a living entity whose true beauty is found when it first awakens. He personifies the nature within the scene claiming that “The river glideth at his own free will”. By stating the river flows by its will, he is giving life to an image that others might see as just a passage in the bustle of daytime. Wordsworth personifies the river as a way of representing London as more than just the capital enterprise that it might be seen as during business hours. He seems to personify London as a whole by claiming that in the calm and silence “all that mighty heart is lying still”. London is being presented by Wordsworth as a heart, the organ which keeps the body alive, as a way of showing that it is the city that holds the people together and only in the calm of morning can it be still without the bustle of the waking world. Through the use of personification, Wordsworth portrays London as a living city that is most beautiful when it can be silent.
Wordsworth’s poem makes me think about times when I have woken up to watch the sunrise before the majority of the world has awoken for the day. Sometimes I enjoy going for walks and being out in the world before business begins and cars fill the roads because it is very quiet and allows me to see things people miss when they are rushing back and forth to get a job done. “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” really reminds me of being on vacation and just getting to sit on a balcony at the beach to enjoy the waves before it becomes littered with people and beach towels. I think Wordsworth’s poem makes an important claim about the need to enjoy a city before it is fully awake.
Good insights here! Wordsworth is known for his poems about natural and rural settings (as are many of the Romantic poets), but here (as you show) he seems to turn the same gaze on the urban world that he turns on rural and bucolic settings. I’d be interested to see what some of you think about the contrast between Wordsworth’s portrayal of London in this poem and his portrayal of London in the section of “The Prelude” that you read (his autobiographical poem).