Wordsworth’s “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1803.”

I chose to write my poem on “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1803.” This poem is about the author, presumably Wordsworth, admiring the beauty of a new morning on the Westminster Bridge in London, England. This poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, and therefore follows the rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDE CDE. It is broken into an octet and a sestet. Wordsworth succeeds in squeezing every drop of emotion out of his word choices and through the structural form he builds piece by piece in his poem. Wordsworth primarily goes about emphasizing his feelings toward this picturesque event by implementing formal features such as personification, imagery, and through diction.

One thing the reader of the poem can’t help but notice is the amazing use of personification. Within these 14 lines, Wordsworth describes England as a city that “now doth like a garment wear,” the sun as “beautifully steep(ing)…in his first splendor,” and a river that “glideth at his own sweet will”, just to name a few examples. I particularly like the last example, because it evokes such a range of thoughts about what the author wanted us to imagine from this phrase. After my initial thought of the river literally flowing in a calm and peaceful manner, I also pictured classes letting out on campus and a mass of students beginning to walking on the brick paths of the quad, almost in a slow, undisturbed manner like the river.

The personification of this poem goes hand in hand with the imagery used by Wordsworth. Wordsworth gives life to nature and the city through words such as “splendor”, “glideth”, “mighty heart”, and “glittering.” As I read and re-read through this poem, I found myself starting the beginning of this passage with a blank canvas, like that used in painting, and after every line, I was able to add another visual element to it. The houses that “seem asleep” residing next to the river, and the “beauty of the morning” unfolding in the background as the “sun…beautifully steep(ed)” over “valley, rock, and hill” in “the smokeless air.” Another interesting use of imagery exists in line 3, stating that the city was “a sight so touching in its majesty.” Wordsworth has taken a common area of the city and has shaped this place, seemingly of no real importance at any other time of the day in England, into a regal landscape fit for king.

Wordsworth’s diction truly makes the reader feels as if they have been transported directly to England to view the setting he has described. One good example to help point this fact out can be seen in line 2, which says “Dull would he be of soul who could pass by.” Wordsworth could have used a wide range of other words to describe an indifferent soul, but he chose dull, which perfectly fits the emotion he wanted to evoke from the reader, one of a person who couldn’t appreciate the rich landscape of the English morning and perceive its overwhelming greatness. Another well-crafted choice of diction that I like is that which describes the river. He used the word “glideth” to represent the motion of the water. He could have used many other words to fit into this phrase, but Wordsworth used his discretion to pick a word that would evoke a particular visual scene and emotion in the reader.