All of the first stanza is about Yeats dreaming of peace. In the last line of the stanza Yeats writes ‘And live alone in the bee-loud glade.’ This gives a sense of tranquillity because he is alone, there be no children screaming and couples arguing. This is Yeats’ land. He is imagining this place and everything he will have there. Yeats wants ‘a hive for the honeybee.’ I think it’s fairly relaxing when you hear a bee buzz. And I think that this is another sign of Yeats’ idea of peace.
Peace and nature is the subject of the second stanza. Peace comes ‘dropping from the veils of t he morning where the cricket sings.’ This is at dawn when the dewdrops fall and through the silence the crickets can be heard.
In the third stanza Yeats leaves his dream of ‘Innisfree’ and goes back to the city. ‘I will arise and go now.’ This is when Yeats wakes from his dream. He then goes back to the dark and gloominess of the city where there are ‘pavements grey.’ This is suggesting that Yeats thinks the city is dull. But in his ‘deep heart’s core’ he could still ‘hear the lake water lapping.’
One thing that the sonnet title ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ does is tell us that this is set in the city of London, where as ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ told us where the poem is set and gives a feel of the peace, freedom and countryside. The lines are quite short, Wordsworth uses enanbreu. Wordsworth is much more forward in telling us what he is writing about. For example, in ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree,’ Yeats describes the place, without telling us that he thinks it is beautiful. Whereas Wordsworth tells us that he thinks the place has ‘beauty’ and then he describes it.
This sonnet has no stanzas. It is about how wonderful Wordsworth thinks the city is. In ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ Yeats uses more complicated words. But Wordsworth lists simple words to describe a place and what is there. For example Wordsworth says ‘sun more beautifully’ whereas Yeats says ‘midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow.’
‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ gives us a sense of equality with God. Wordsworth mentions the word ‘soul’ which is telling us that he feels deeply about the city. Wordsworth needs the beauty of the city to make him feel ‘calm.’ This is different from Yeats, who needs the ‘peace’ and tranquillity to become calm and relaxed.
In ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ there is, a,b rhyme,’ whereas in ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ only has this in the last six lines. This is because in these lines Wordsworth is talking about his feeling and to God, and so the sonnet flows more.
Wordsworth has a good effect on getting his message across by writing simply and to the point, yet manages to make you feel deeply about small things about how beautiful ‘ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples are.’ At the end of the sonnet when he address’ it ‘Dear God’ it is as if he is thanking God for giving man the ability to make the city and everything in it.
