Composed upon Westminster Bridge

Wordsworth’s sonnet on the beauty of London seen at dawn from Westminster Bridge, still and silent before the day begins.

Earth has not any thing to shew more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass byA sight so touching in it’s majesty:This City now doth like a garment wearThe beauty of the morning; silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lieOpen unto the fields, and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.Never did sun more beautifully steepIn his first splendor valley, rock, or hill;Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!The river glideth at his own sweet will:Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Famous lines

• Earth has not any thing to shew more fair:
  Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
  A sight so touching in it’s majesty:
  This City now doth like a garment wear
  The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
  Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
  Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
  All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

  In context

  • Beauty

• Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
  The river glideth at his own sweet will:
  Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
  And all that mighty heart is lying still!

  In context

  • Beauty
  • Nature