Composed Upon Westminster Bridge - William Wordsworth

Question 1

Structure

Answer 1

• Octave followed by sestet - Italian Sonnet, during sestet th stanzas become more empathic through use of exclamation marks, mimicks rhe speakers excitement
• imperfect iambic pentameter, imitates the speaker
• repetative rhyme scheme gives a flowing sense of time, its beat reflects the slow sluggish beat of the city

Question 2

‘Earth has not anything to show more fair;
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty’

Answer 2

‘Earth’ - foregrounding, introduces the theme of nature vs civilisation, mandmade structure impliedto be the most beautiful on earth
‘more fair;’ - clear end to the sentence considers the boldness of the statement, especially as a first generation romantic poet, subverts expectations.
‘Dull’ - foregrounding, anyone not astonished is rendered dull
‘majesty’ - gives London a senseof royalty, personification, idolises and puts it on a pedestal.

Question 3

‘This City nowdoth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie’

Answer 3

‘City’ - non-standard capitalisation of concrete noun, elavates the cities status, also personifies it and therefore gives it life, bringing a link to nature and a result some wonted themes that a romantic poet would ordinarily dramatise.
‘doth’ - archaic third person
‘like a garment, wear’ - personifies city, gives expression to his words and facilitates understand and feeling
‘bare’ - untainted, untouched, irony considering the industrial revolution taking place.
‘ships, towers…’ - lexical set of concrete nouns
‘lie’ - verb indicates a closeness of city and nature, again subverts expectations of romantic poets

Question 4

‘All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep’

Answer 4

‘bright and glittering’ - phrase gives it an almost divine air, sharpness of the plosive sounds oppose the typically foggy scene.
‘smokeless air’ - dawn before day begins, brings attention to industrial revolution, suggests idea of how people are a stain on the environment.
‘Never’ - opening line of the sestet mirrors the opening line of the octave/poem with the intensifier ‘more’

Question 5

‘Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
…
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!’

Answer 5

'’deep!’ exemplifies his emotion towards nature : would he find the city so enchanting once dawn has broken?
‘Dear God!’ - stunned into silence by the beauty of London
‘seem asleep’ - calmness conradicts the stereotypical sight of London city
‘still!’ - exclamation brings head to the point he has been labouring toward the entire poem : beauty of London in the morning is a sight to be believed.