I’ll soon be off to London and I couldn’t help but think of this famous poem by William Wordsworth! Although I studied Wordsworth when i was doing my degree, this was a neglected poem by my tutors. Maybe they thought it was too short, maybe it they thought it was too well known, or not challenging enough. I knew it from my own reading, but I didn’t realise it was composed on top of a coach as Wordsworth was journeying to meet his illegitimate daughter for the first time! he was on his way to France and no doubt excited at the prospect and maybe in that mood everything would be shiny and bright and wonderful!
Upon Westminster Bridge
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:
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.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, 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!
William Wordsworth
Here i an intersting article:
Lois Elsden 