Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth

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!

This poem celebrates the beauty of London in the early morning. London, an industrial city as opposed to nature, is generally thought to be busy, noisy, polluted, smoky and crowded; but now, at this morning moment, London is ‘silent’, ‘calm’ and ‘fair’ with clean air, the buildings and structures are at one with nature, ‘open unto the fields, and to the sky’.

The river, which should be the Thames, can flow freely ‘at his own sweet will’ without the intrusion of factories and ships. ‘Mighty heart’ which refers to government, trade and industry is ‘lying still’ and at peace with the world of nature before it takes to runs its activities. The poet can see London through the natural perspective which is very rarely adopted by poets at his time.