“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” is a Petrarchan sonnet by the English poet William Wordsworth. Originally published in 1807, the poem is part of a collection entitled Poems, in Two Volumes. In the sonnet, the speaker describes a view of London from a spot on the bridge early in the morning. The speaker can see the spires and domes of the city “steep” (Line 9) in sunlight and can watch the river flow unfettered while the houses sleep. The speaker declares that this sight brings him “a calm so deep” (Line 11), deeper than anything else he has experienced in the natural world.

Wordsworth was one of the most influential poets of his time, establishing the Romantic Movement with the book Lyrical Ballads co-authored with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The goal of the Romantics, which Wordsworth articulated in his “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads,” was to use common language to explore and express the inner workings of the individual, often in response to the sights and wonders of the natural world. Other poets of the Romantic Movement include Coleridge, and later poets such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. Within the Romantic Movement, Wordsworth was the one to put the greatest emphasis on nature, espousing that nature was a balm to the human spirit and a teacher. (For further reading on this topic, see Ashton Nichols’s essay “Wordsworth as Environmental ‘Nature’ Writer” in the Further Reading section.)

“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” is a departure from Wordsworth’s other poems, which often praise nature as superior to an urban setting. Perhaps not surprisingly, the initial impulse for the poem came not from Wordsworth himself, but from an observation by his sister and long-time companion, Dorothy. Although the poem’s speaker declares that “Earth has not any thing to show more fair” (Line 1) than the view of the city, the poem maintains other qualities that define it as a Romantic poem, including attention to the individual’s propensity to experience heightened emotions and at the same time seek tranquility amidst an increasingly more complicated world.

Poet Biography

William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in a region of England known as the Lake District. Wordsworth’s father was a legal representative of the 1st Earl of Lonsdale, allowing Wordsworth to grow up in a mansion with a large library, in the small, serene town of Cockermouth, Cumbria. This setting influenced his love of nature and his connection with working people despite his residence of wealth. His father encouraged him to read and memorize passages from Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton, which nurtured his poetic sensibilities from an early age.

A year after Wordsworth was born, his younger sister, Dorothy arrived. The two would be baptized together and form a bond that would last throughout their lives. Wordsworth’s mother died when he was eight years old, and his father passed away five years later. Wordsworth was to inherit a legacy, but it was in dispute for many years. In spite of his limited finances, Wordsworth was still able to attend St. John’s College at Cambridge, but he did not perform well in his studies, perhaps distracted by his focus on traveling.

One year after the beginning of the French Revolution, Wordsworth arrived in Paris, France, where he had the opportunity to experience firsthand what it meant to be a revolutionary. The intended ideals of the revolution, which sought to expand opportunities and democratic representation to common people, spoke to Wordsworth, who would be an advocate for the value of everyday individuals throughout his career. His revolutionary zeal would later cool as he saw the way in which the revolution gave birth to tidal waves of violence.

In 1792, still in the throes of a revolutionary spirit, Wordsworth fathered an illegitimate child with Annette Vallon but left for England before the child, a girl named Caroline, was born. Shortly thereafter, England and France went to war, making it difficult for Wordsworth to return to Annette and their daughter.

While in England, Wordsworth met the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the two struck up a remarkable kinship. At the time, Wordsworth was living at a friend’s house with his sister Dorothy, and he was developing his craft as a poet, while living a simple life of gardening and helping care for his friend’s young child, Basil. Coleridge and Wordsworth would go on to publish a volume of poetry, The Lyrical Ballads, in 1798. This volume, along with Wordsworth’s “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” added to the second edition in 1800, would launch the Romantic Movement in England and establish Wordsworth as one of the foremost fathers of that movement.

Wordsworth’s father’s estate was eventually settled, and Wordsworth inherited a Legacy of 900 pounds, which allowed him the financial means to continue his writing career and marry his childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. He fathered five children with her, but he continued to send money to Annette and their daughter for much of the remainder of his life. “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” was inspired by a sight Dorothy saw when she and her brother eventually returned to France to see Annette and Caroline. The trip also spurred another of Wordsworth’s most recognized poems, “It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free,” published in the same collection as “Westminster,” in which he wrote about the experience of meeting his daughter, then nine years old, for the first time.

Wordsworth continued to write poetry. His other works include The Borderers, Poems in Two Volumes and The Prelude, the latter of which is considered his magnum opus, which he worked on for decades and which was only published posthumously. In 1843, Queen Victoria gave Wordsworth the title of Poet Laureate of England, a title he kept until his death in 1850. His work remains a strong influence on poets today.

Poem Text

Earth has not any thing 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!

Wordsworth, William. “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.” 1807. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

In “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802,” the speaker describes a view from the bridge that leads from Westminster Cathedral to the rest of London and observes the city at sunrise. The speaker is caught by the beauty of the scene and compares the city to a person who is wearing the morning like a garment (Line 4). From this vantage-point on the bridge, the speaker can see “Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples” (Line 6), which are “Open unto the fields, and to the sky; / All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.” (Lines 7-8) The speaker suggests that this sight is more splendid than anything he has seen outside of the city, in the natural world (Line 10), and that this image of the city “steeped” in the light of the sun makes him feel a deeper calm than he has ever felt before (Line 11). The speaker continues his personification by saying that the river “glideth at his own sweet will” (Line 12) and comparing the houses to people who are asleep (Line 13). Finally, the speaker ends on a line that gathers up the different parts of the city into one personification, saying, “all that mighty heart is lying still!” (Line 14) suggesting that the city has a heart that is “mighty” and yet is currently at rest. This suggests that the city is displaying both its strength and its tranquility for this moment, but also hints that once the day moves on, the city will come to life and the tranquility will be broken by the activity of the day.