Friday 5 August 2011

Refering to "Composed upon Westminster Bridge," show why the speaker feels so awestruck and amazed at his first sight of London so early in the...

You might want to focus
on the way that the poem personifies the city of London, making it seem human. Note that we are
told that London "like a garment" wears "the beauty of the morning," the
river has "its own sweet will" and the houses are said to "sleep." Lastly,
the entire sight is personified in the last line as being a "mighty heart":


Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all
that mighty heart is lying still!

If we examine all of
these characteristics, what seems to amaze the speaker so much is the city's beauty and
tranquility on this morning. The city throughout the poem is presented as being peaceful and
beautiful, as these three lines make clear:

Never did sun
more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or
hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!


It is the sight of this "mighty heart lying still" in the beautiful morning
sunshine that produces this sense of calm and peace in the speaker, which makes him feel more
calm than he has ever felt in his life. This is a very novel perception of the city, for in
Romantic literature they were normally depicted as ugly and enchaining men rather than
liberating them. Wordsworth in this poem re-envisions the city, showing that it to can be a
sight of natural beauty and exploring how it can bring peace to the soul.

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