Composed on Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth

An Introduction to Composed on Westminster Bridge, with notes on the Romantic Movement.
Powerpoint designed around questions to stimulate independent learning.

1. Composed on Westminster Bridge
By William Wordsworth

2. Write a short descriptive paragraph on
any ONE of the following pictures:

4. Context
Wordsworth's inspiration for the poem seems to come from the view
he saw from Westminster Bridge in London on the morning of July
31, 1802, although he didn’t write the poem until September the
same year. The people of the city were still in bed and the
factories had not yet 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.’

5. What Type of Poem is This?
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!
How many lines does it
have?
How many syllables per
line?
What is the rhyme
scheme?
The Petrarchan or Italian form usually
follows a rhyme scheme of abba abba cde
cde. The poem is usually divided into two
sections with the first eight lines, an octave,
and the last six, a sestet. There is usually a
turn in the poem around line nine.[4] The
Shakespearean form has a rhyme scheme
of abab cdcd efef gg. The end rhyming
couplet is often used to turn the idea that
has been building through the poem.

6. Line by Line Analysis
‘Earth has not anything
to show more fair:’
The poem opens with a confident
statement:
It is a hyperbole, as he says this is the
'fairest sight in the world'.
The use of the colon indicates that he
is about to create a ______?
‘Dull would he be of soul
who could pass by
A sight so touching in its
majesty
“Fair” and “dull” create a contrast
between the earth’s beauty and a
soul’s dullness.
“Majesty” refers not only to the
description but also literally to
Westminster Abbey, where the
King’s/Queen’s of England are
coronated

7. Line by Line Analysis
‘This City now, doth like
a garment wear
The beauty of the
morning; silent, bare
These two lines contradict each other:
The City is “wearing” a garment (What
figure of speech is this?)
But the beauty of the morning is “silent” and
“bare”
Write down the literal meaning of the city
being “bare” (Think of the time of day)
‘Ships, towers, domes,
theatres and temples
lie
Upon unto the fields and
the sky
We finally have a list of buildings that make
up the city.
Which is opposed in the following line
where the focus is on nature again.
Wordsworth creates a balance between the
City and Nature (both exist together)

8. Line by Line Analysis
‘All bright and glittering
in the smokeless air
Literal Meaning: Identify why a city would
“glitter” in the morning.
Figurative Meaning: According to the
previous stanzas, what would be
glittering? (Extended metaphor of...?)
Why would the Poet make a comment on
the “Smokeless Air” What Historical
Movement is the poem associated with.
(Think of the year it was composed, 1802)
This is the Eighth Line of the poem and it forms a
break, before the next part.
(Eight lines are known as an Octet
The final six lines form a Sextet)

9. Line by Line Analysis
‘Never did sun more
beautifully steep
In his first splendour,
valley, rock or hill
What is the effect of the word
steep? What architecture
feature does it remind you of?
We have nature Juxtaposed
again with the buildings,
Ne’er saw I, never felt a
calm so deep!
Here the poet talks about the
effect on him.
This is a break from the
descriptive paragraphs
previously seen, and he
reflects on the effect on him.

10. Line by Line Analysis
‘The river glideth, at his
own sweet will
What river is the poet referring
to?
What are the connotations of
“glide” and how does this
relate to the feelings of the
author in the previous line?
Dear God! The very
houses seem asleep
And all that mighty heart
is lying still
Identify the words the author
chose that extend your
understanding of his
emotions?
What figure of speech is used in
the final lines?
Looking carefully at the Octet and Sextet, what is the
difference between the two parts of the poem?

11. The Romantic Movement

Many of the sonnets and poems of
the era describe the calm, beauty,
power or sublimity of nature.

Understanding, appreciating,
exploring, or worshipping, the
Romantics were always at work to
try to draw themselves closer to
nature.

Nature is often personified to
show the closeness in the
relationship to humans and nature.

In other poems a reverse kind of
personification happens, and man
takes on the qualities of nature.
How is Composed on
Westminster Bridge a
romantic poem?
Does it use man-made
or nature imagery?
What aspects of nature is
present in the poem? (List
them)
What is his overall theme?
How is the theme developed
using contrasts?