Upon Westminster Bridge
by William Wordsworth
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In this Petrarchan sonnet, William Wordsworth describes the breathtaking beauty of London seen at dawn from Westminster Bridge. He declares that 'Earth has not anything to show more fair', and that anyone who could pass such majesty unmoved would be 'dull of soul'. In the calm early morning the city wears the beauty of the morning 'like a garment'; its ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie open to the fields and sky, bright and glittering in the 'smokeless air'. The poet has never seen the sun steep valley, rock or hill more beautifully, nor felt a calm so deep. The river 'glideth at his own sweet will', the very houses seem asleep, and the whole city, 'that mighty heart', is lying still. The poem captures the rare, serene beauty of a great city at peace.
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'Upon Westminster Bridge' is one of William Wordsworth's finest Romantic sonnets, describing the beauty of London at dawn as seen from Westminster Bridge. The nature-loving poet is surprised and enthralled to find a man-made city so calm and beautiful in the early morning light.
A sight of unmatched beauty
The poet opens with a bold claim: 'Earth has not anything to show more fair.' Anyone who could pass by 'a sight so touching in its majesty' unmoved would be 'dull of soul'. The scene overwhelms him with its grandeur and stillness.
The city, he says, now wears 'the beauty of the morning' like a garment. Silent and bare, its ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie open to the fields and the sky, 'all bright and glittering in the smokeless air', the clean, unpolluted air of early dawn before the day's smoke begins.
The deep calm of the mighty heart
The poet declares that never did the sun 'more beautifully steep in his first splendour' any valley, rock or hill, and that he has never felt 'a calm so deep.' The river 'glideth at his own sweet will', flowing freely and peacefully.
In the sonnet's moving close, even 'the very houses seem asleep', and 'all that mighty heart is lying still.' The city, imagined as a great living being, rests in perfect peace, a rare, sacred moment of stillness before the bustle of the day awakens it.