19 pages • 38 minutes read
William WordsworthComposed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1807A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Ships, Towers, Domes, Theaters, and Temples
The list of images that the speaker notes in his description of the city is significant for several reasons. Notably absent in this list are other large buildings that usually fill a city, such as factories, poor houses, or alehouses, all of which were certainly present in London at the time. By choosing to focus on the “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples […]” (Line 6), the speaker is intentionally drawing the reader’s attention to those creations which demonstrate man’s higher thinking abilities, his ability to strive for something that is the “paragon of animals” (2.2.13), to quote Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But there is more to it than that. Ships show humankind’s ability to traverse oceans, to connect with those in other locations, to learn from others, and to connect with the sea. Towers in the medieval period were used to adorn churches because they drew the intention upward. The architectural significance of a tower is that it points toward heaven and is therefore a reminder to think about God. Domes became more popular in the Renaissance and represented humankind’s growing architectural prowess. They also exemplified a changing consciousness, which was more concerned with Earth than with heaven, with nature than with divinity. The curve of the dome mimics the curvature of the planet and hence draws attention back down to the dwelling place of the species. Temples too are an emblem of religion, while theaters are symbols of culture. The list of architectural achievements that the speaker points to shows not only a breadth of history, but also humankind’s ability to evolve.
In Wordsworth’s conception, a city is a record of man’s ongoing evolution of thought. The speaker suggests that what makes the city glorious is not its creation of commerce, but its striving towards higher consciousness—art, the divine, and the intersections of different land and peoples made possible by ship travel. Moreover, what makes this moment so magnificent is not the imagery of humankind’s achievements alone, but rather the imagery of all of these symbols of striving as they are being touched by the sun, which is so often a symbol of divinity/God and has been since ancient times. The imagery of these “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples,” (Line 6) being “all bright and glittering” (Line 8) subtly suggests a people that is otherworldly, even heavenly. The poet may even be suggesting that a reader might find something of a spiritual revelation inside a city.
Sunlight and Morning
Sunlight is often associated with heaven and has been used as a symbol of divinity since time immemorial. The sun comes from above; it is the center of our solar system. It is what causes the fields to prosper and all food to grow. In addition, sunlight is beautiful to look at, creating an ethereal, golden quality. In “Composed upon Westminster,” Wordsworth focuses the reader’s attention on what the sunlight does to a city, suggesting that it is more beautiful when it falls on the “Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples” (Line 6) than it is when it falls “In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill” (Line 10). This implies that God does in fact dwell in the city, and it may even suggest that divinity can be concentrated in and magnified by a city. The edifices man makes may contain an essence of the divine in them, as they are better able to reflect the sunlight, than a valley, rock, or hill might. Still, it is the sunlight that the speaker praises more than the buildings themselves, signifying that the best use of manmade objects is to create a reflection of divinity itself.
The River
Most dense civilizations, if they do not develop along the ocean, occur alongside a river (“Early Civilizations.” Khanacademy.org). A river provides many of the things human beings need in order to survive, including water for drinking and washing, fish for eating, and a mode of transportation for carrying cargo, supplies, and people to and from the city. In poetry, a river often symbolizes the flow of the soul through life to meet the ocean or the cosmic oneness with divinity. It is a symbol of nature and the free, unfettered flow of life, and it is also often a metaphor for the passage of time.
It is therefore significant that the final lines of this poem dwell on the river and the fact that it “glideth at his own sweet will” (Line 12). This line intimates that there are times when it is not able to glide of its own will, but rather is subjugated to the will of the city dwellers, who will use it for commerce. Whereas the others inside the city will likely be using the river for their own purposes later in the day, the speaker of the poem is appreciating it for its own sake, recognizing that nature has its own will, knows where it is going, and is better when left unhindered by human activity.
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