Mah Rind

Urban Romanticism

11/26/2004

Nature in an Unnatural Landscape

Wordsworth’s poem “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” raises questions regarding the relationship between the city and nature. His appreciation of the city in general, and London in particular, seems to develop only when he views it as the countryside. But why does Wordsworth find the city so majestic only because of nature’s beauty that is adorning it at sunrise? Does he have no words of appreciation for the man-made beauty of the buildings that lie before him or the bridge that he is standing on? Most importantly, the question is why and how does Wordsworth incorporate nature in a city landscape? Wordsworth, being a poet of nature, seems surprised at himself that the sight of the city, which according to his poetic beliefs is “unnatural”, is moving him. Thus, in order to convince himself and his readers that it’s nature that is affecting him and not the city itself, he uses the kind of language and imagery that he would use in a poem about the countryside.

From the beginning of the poem, Wordsworth admires the city just as he would admire rural scenery. The awe and wonder with which he describes the scene in his opening line claiming “Earth has not anything to shew more fair” (Line 1) is very similar to the amazement with which he describes the countryside in his pastoral poems, such as the “Tintern Abbey”. In “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” in particular, he is so struck by the beauty of the scene that he just cannot imagine how anyone could not be equally amazed with such a sight: “Dull would he be of soul who could pass by\ A sight so touching in its majesty”(Lines 2-3). He sets up these lines to later reveal why he is so struck by this sight – it is not the buildings or the city itself, but the “beauty of the morning” (Line 5), the effect of nature on the scene that has trapped him in such awe.

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In the mind of the reader, the image of a beautiful morning would be one in the countryside where the first rays of sunrise shine upon the vast green expanses of land. But in this particular poem, Wordsworth is claiming that the city wears “the beauty of the morning; silent, bare”(Line 5). The reader finds himself completely bewildered at the thought of a silent, peaceful and beautiful morning in the cityside rather than the countryside. Further, the edifices Wordsworth mentions are not appreciated for their man-made architectural brilliance either. Instead, the “ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples” (Line 6) seem ...

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