An Interpretation of Wordsworth’s relations with the city in “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”

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An Interpretation of Wordsworth’s relations with the city in “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”

William Wordsworth known for his appreciation of the natural world focused on nature and man's relationship with the natural environment is the poet of “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3,1802” a sonnet written in appreciation of the city of London as its subject. At first glance it appears that the poem describes the city in a very positive way, communicating its power and 'splendor'. A suggestion being made by Wordsworth against his traditional approach that suggests that the view of the city is a rival for anything naturally occurring: 'Earth has not anything to show more fair' is the opening line. The city becomes commodification of the natural and therein beautiful only in its sleeping state the opposite of what it is.

Thus, rather than an admiration of the city the poem becomes visible to the reader as  unnatural and monstrous, beautiful only in reflection of the natural and beautiful only when it is not all of the things characteristic of a city such as people, motion and perhaps even more dramatically only beautiful when it is dead. Negative language seemingly used in lines 1, 9 and 11 to create the impression that the city is superior to nature, that London is the pinnacle of creation. "Never did the sun more beautifully..."(9) "Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!" (11) However, this is immediately contrasted with a reverence for the natural in that, it is only through the contrast of the city and the beauty of natural which therein is made more beautiful and the ultimate revelation that the city in this particular moment is void of those things which are characteristic of a city.

Wordsworth begins the sonnet dramatically as if daring the reader to disagree with him “Earth has not anything to show more fair:”(1) however, this is a type of exaggeration given that his implication is that at the this particular moment it seems to him the most beautiful scene in existance this image of the cities beauty will however be turned on its head at the couplet. The line concludes with a collen suggesting that he will illustrate what the earth has too show however instead of what "showing" what the scene is as one would expect given the shortness of the sonnet form. He justifies his decision to stop his coach along the way to look at the view from the bridge: “Dull would he be of soul who could pass by/ A sight so touching in its majesty:”(2-3) through his claims that anyone who didn't stop, who just passed by with a glance, would be "dull...of soul." The use of dull here potentially a reference to the monotony of everyday life to the a foreshadowing of the peoples dullness and incapacity of witnessing the beauty of the natural in their daily lives. There however and understanding that the people are a part of the city, and in being a part of the life of the “mighty heart” of line 14 and incapable of viewing the beauty of the city by the act of being part of it. The use of the phrase "touching in its majesty," in its combining of the public and the private in that the word ‘touching’ implies an intimate act whereas ‘majesty’ is something not usually associated with these intimate actions a potentially reference implying once more the relationship between the city and the natural as something not usually witnessed and these two forces as tradition. The intimacy of this moment is also one that is foreseen as being taken away by the coming to life of the city. 

The poem continues relating the city to the natural and once more to its human subjects: “This City now doth, like a garment, wear/ The beauty of the morning;” (4-5) nobody wears garments but people here the city is wearing however here the city is wearing something that is beautiful therein it is not the city thus what is being admired is not necessarily the city but the cloth that it is wearing. The rest of the poem with the exception of the couplet is hence a reflection of the clothes and what they do for the city.

This image of being clothed is immediately followed by nudity  “silent, bare,/ Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie/ Open unto the fields, and to the sky;”(5-7)because of the semi-colon before them, "silent" and "bare" more likely to refer to sights of the city , however the ambiguity could allows it to the morning to also be seen as silent and bare however silent, bare in line 5 that don't seem completely attached to what comes before or after them and while the morning is always silent and bare the city is not always silent and bare. In line 6, he is preforming a type of a scan on the city in this state the use of temple outsized of paganizing the city creates an image of the city a body in that in which the listed items mapped out from top to bottom by the speaker are its body part. The use of open if not sexually revealing, implies a receptiveness to the beauty of the morning a beauty which is not usually accepted on part of the city thus the use of the word open/ bare are direct references to the city accepting something in its sleep which it would not recognize or accept at any other time.

The octet ends with another reiteration of the image of the city not being a city “All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.” London is known for its fog and it seems strange to imagine London without fog or without any smoke from chimneys obscures the bright light—emphasizing the image of London as  the agent of the beauty and what ultimately appears beautiful is the sunlight whose image can through the glass be ever changing and theirin achieving the affect of "glittering" The changing image of the light is one which due to the inactivity of the city cannot be associated with the city but must therefore be associated with the image of the sun and thereby something natural. Returning to the bold claim posed the beginning of the poem he notes that "Never did sun more beautifully steep/In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;" (9-10) here the claim seems to be that the beauty of London surpasses the countryside, these sights is far superior to the "First splendour" that falls upon any boulder or mountainous cliff ("rock"), or a hillside in the country being superior however it does not seem here that this beauty is retainable given that the unnatural state-- and the beauty which is reflected is one of the nature or the sun which "steep" into the landscape of London. The image of steep evoking that of a teabag steeping into water in that the water has to be pure in order for the tea to leave its flavor and therein uninhabitable by human life in order for the water to be clear reiterating the image posed in lines 4-5 in which the city is wearing the beauty of the morning a beauty which is attributed to the morning (a natural circumstance) and not to the city itself whom is simply garbing itself within the beauty in its ability to reflect it.

Line 11-12 continue with this image of the city as something comparable to the natural and only beautiful in its ability to reflect the natural: "Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!/ The river glideth at his own sweet will:" in which the speaker claims that London makes him feel calm which appears strange considering that it is the city and this something which one could traditionally and Wordsworth usually does associate with a calm serene hillside such as the one described in line 10. Lines 13-14 reflecting his full awakening to that the beauty of the city and this moment in which he has been caught is not something traditionally associated with the city: “Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;/And all that mighty heart is lying still!” Thus, when awake the city will be none of the things which the speaker so relished of the landscape when it was lying still. However the phrase “that mighty heart is lying still” becomes more than simply sleep but extend itself to a form of death. While the lines Dear God  . . . and all that mighty heart is lying still! with its two exclamations emphasizing the enthusiasm with which the lines are delivered it seems that the reader is greatly surprised by the lack of life of the city. A heart here is implied as lying still it means that it is not being which by extent implies that it is dead.

Words on lines three ('majesty') and 14 ('mighty') suggest the strength of power of the city, rather like a lion, or a monarch while like in some of Wordsworth’s poems this may have refer to the natural here it expresses the city. Nevertheless the message is subversive, while Wordsworth is in awe of the power he is experiencing this power is in line three a reflection of the natural and in line 14 ultimately something at rest and therein admirable otherwise ‘dull’ and equivalent to a type of a sleeping giant powerful but lacking in mental capacity.  

The poem is showing beauty of the garb that is too say the natural world rather than individual wearing the garb the city itself and their in attention is being drawn to the lack of natural beauty of the city is made even more apparent by the emphasis on the beauty of the natural which it does not traditionally possess. The image of the city in a September morning does grant Wordsworth to appreciate the natural world more so than prior to this moment but only as a thing which emphasizes the beauty of the natural, he has become at once fully aware that "Never did the sun more beautifully..."(9) "Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!" (11) These are not however expressions of the beauty of the now sleeping but rather of the beauty of the natural world which becomes exipted through the display on Westminster bridge on September 3 of 1802.