"The Prelude" is more like a continuous piece of prose, telling a story, with no rhyming couplets or rhyming pattern. "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" appears to have quite a random rhyming pattern for the majority of the poem, with an A,B,A,B,A,B rhyming pattern in the last sestet, maybe to emphasise this part of the poem.
In many ways the two poems are contrasting. For example, "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" is written at sunrise and the extract from "The Prelude" is written about the time just before sunset. "The Prelude" involves other children playing games on the ice, with Wordsworth, whereas "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" was written alone and involves no other people at all, except in personifications of objects. The sonnet is a very ephemeral poem, as Wordsworth caught London at a very flattering time of day. If he had been at the same point at midday, then he may not have had the same opinions, as the city would have been much busier and not so peaceful.
Much imagery is used in the sonnet to convey the picturesque image of the city. The opening line, "Earth has not anything to show more fair" is quite effective as it makes it sound as if the view is the best thing in the world, this is emphasised by the use of the negative "not" which emphasises the great power of the planet.
On the fourth line, the subject of the poem is revealed and by using both personification and a simile. The City is personified and given the ability to wear "the beauty of the morning; silent, bare." This is compared this to the human ability to wear a garment., with a reference to "majesty" in the previous line, which suggests royal garments, and the worshipping of the city, like royalty was then worshipped.
Another stylistic device that Wordsworth uses in this poem is the use of lists. The first list includes all the man-made features in the poem, "Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples." The second list contrasts the first by including the natural features in the landscape, "valley, rock or hill." These lists contrast each other.
On the thirteenth line of the sonnet, the vocative tense is used, "Dear God! The very houses seem asleep", which is effective as it seems to convey what Wordsworth really thought, inside his head, whilst standing on the bridge, writing the sonnet.
Enjambment is used in both poems. An example in the sonnet is:
"Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A Sight so touching in its majesty"
An example of enjambment in "The Prelude" is
"And in the frosty season, when the sun
Was set , and visible for many a mile"
This is effective because it makes you think about what the phrase actually means, and sometimes puts emphasis on certain words or gives them double meanings. This may also make the poem flow better and sound more effective when read out. Enjambment is used a lot by Wordsworth in "The Prelude" along with many other tricks of style. An original and effective simile describing Wordsworth's playful attitude as a boy, is "Proud and exulting like an untired horse" which conveys the image of a mad and wild boy bursting with energy. The playing boys are also compared to a hunt in an extended simile which continues for much of the extract. Onomatopoeia is also used by Wordsworth in "The Prelude." Words such as "hissed" and "tinkled" are effective in this poem, as they resemble the sounds actually made.
The sonnet "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" is all written in a mood of happiness and pleasure, the same mood that the extract from "The Prelude" begins with, whilst describing the "time of rapture!" and the exciting time experienced by all the children playing games on the ice. This mood continues almost until the end of the extract, but the mood appears to sadden in the last few lines. "an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed" came as the boys realised that the evening of fun had to be over. "The orange sky of the evening died away" signifies the end of all the enjoyment of the evening. This is because orange is a colour of happiness and fun, and as the colour fades the time of rapture fades with it, as this signifies time that the boys had to make their way home.
The poem that had the most effect on me was the sonnet "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" This is because it is easier to understand and set out much more clearly. The imagery in the sonnet is very effective and gives a good visual image of London in the morning in the late 1700's. Although I prefer the style of the sonnet, I prefer the subject matter of "The Prelude" as I can identify with it more, although I feel that both the subject matters are now a bit out-dated. Today, if you stood on Westminster Bridge early in the morning, then there would almost definitely not be the same tranquil atmosphere as there was then, as there would probably noise, pollution, cars, people and aeroplanes breaking the peace that there once was. Instead, a modern sonnet may be dedicated to The Millennium Dome, London Eye and the
new offices and footbridge. In "The Prelude" the boys are playing out in the countryside on the ice. Today, even though children do still play out sometimes, it is more common for them to be occupied by modern technology such as computer games.
