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Claude Monet, The Thames at Westminster (Westminster Bridge)
1871 |
We had a very productive discussion last week about the
relationship between Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals and William’s poems. To
further that discussion, let’s examine the sonnet “Composed upon Westminster
Bridge” (pg 344). What favorite lines and important images did you take note
of? How do you see this sonnet about an urban landscape connecting with other
poems we have read by Wordsworth that celebrate the pastoral?
Compare the description of the same carriage ride in
Dorothy’s journal (pg 413). What connections do you see between Dorothy’s
journal and William’s poem?
My favorite line is this poem is, "The river glideth at his own sweet will." This personification creates an image of a free and wondering river, simply going about its own way. It doesn't get in a hurry, but rather it flows on its own time. I liked this lazy and docile description and feel like it added to the intrinsic beauty of the urban scene.
ReplyDeleteWordsworth seems to carry the same love of nature in Westminster Bridge as he does in Lines..Tintern Abbey. He's very descriptive when it comes to his natural surroundings and speaks as if he is in awe by them.
Dorothy's journal goes into much more detail about the actual happenings of the day. Her writing is lighthearted about the beauty. Whereas William's is full of reverence, almost adopting a religious tone.
The same part of the poem caught our attention. I love your interpretation of the river, how it is the image of a free and wondering river simply going about its way. I think you are spot on when saying he shows the same love for nature in the Tintern Abbey, except i would extend that comment to all of his work. He has great respect for the harmony of the happenings of the day and the happenings of nature. He says its in his soul as a poet to be in tune with that harmony.
DeleteMy favorite line within the poems we have read so far is from "We are Seven". The line is "her beauty made me glad". I am a sucker for a childs pureness everytime that will get me. The fact that she knows what happen yet refuses to see it how he see's it, just makes me smile. I think mostly because it reminds me of myself, so I can relate to how she is feeling, and if she is half a stubburn as I am she will always think the way she thinks.She will not let anyone try to say different because she feels so strongly about this.
ReplyDeleteI think this painting has a romantic feel to it but it is also just a calm painting with a pretty scene.
This was my favorite poem also. The wisdom of a child who acknowledges that just because a person dies, they are not erased from existence. If they were, how could we have memories of someone who never was? When a person dies, they live on in the memories, good or bad, of those who knew them.
DeleteTeresa Buretta
I like the lines "dull would he be of soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its majesty." I have noticed all through out both Dorothy's journal and William's poetry that they hold nature to a high standard. They both describe each scene in such a way that it is almost like the readers are there themselves. After i read Dorothy's journal entry about the carriage ride and then William's poem I can see that he plays off of what she sees and puts it into poetic terms.Its an interesting mix. For example Dorothy talks about how the smoke from the houses doesn't fill the air and William says "All bright and glittering in the smokeless air." Then later Dorothy talks about how they rode cheerfully, but William says "Never saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!" She describes and he feels.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that line as well. Those are really good examples of how the two perceive the same image/event in completely different terms. Their admiration for nature makes me wonder if they both experienced something as children together to make them appreciate their surroundings, or if they simply love the natural beauty.
DeleteWhen he says, "The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, ships tower, domes, theatres, and temples lie," I can see the city. He is getting to see the town while it is still sleeping. I can see all the enormous buildings and river in the "smokeless air" of the early morning. This poem connected well with the previous.
ReplyDeleteOn contraire to William, Dorothy describes the whole outing. I read the poem first and it was so neat to see another's perspective while getting more details of the whole outing. I loved that they both mention the early morning sun. He calls it beautiful, while he describes it as fierce.
The same part caught my attenntion. It must have been a neat sight, seeing a place that is usually so active so still in the early morning. It clearly left an impression on the both of them.
DeleteLooking at both the journal entry and the poem, its very obvious that Wordsworth drew on Dorthy's observations to write it."All bright and glittering in the smokeless air" directly coincides with "The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke" from the journal entry. This is one of my favorite observations in the poem.
ReplyDeleteReading both makes me wonder if Wordsworth's poetry would be nearly as good without his sister. She seems just as, or possibly even more observant than her brother.
"Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
ReplyDeleteAnd all that mighty heart is lying still!"
This line in Wordsworth's sonnet is so filled with emotion. The interjection he uses to begin his final two lines gives the sentence with a more intimate, personal touch. In this way, we can truly feel Wordsworth's wonder.
Dorothy's version of the same event is more detailed, yet somehow more casual. While the reader can certainly sense Dorothy's reverence, the narration, when compared to William's, is measurably less formal.
I like the contrast of what would later in the day a bustling city to the sleepy quietude of the early morning hours. While William is poetic in his desciption and Dorothy more prosaic, both aptly paint a visual picure of the pristineness of the city before it awakens.
ReplyDeleteIn “Westminster Bridge” my favorite line was "Never did sun more beautifully steep in his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;" which has nature mentioned. We as readers get to picture the sun upon Wordsworth place of beauty. The place is dear to him because he tells how the city is a garment he does wear. The city of London is a piece of Wordsworth. He gives us a slice of life in the urban city of London by mentioning ships, towers, theaters, domes, temples, and houses. Another line I loved was “Dear God! The very houses seem asleep,” which personified as human and it shows his love for the city.
ReplyDeleteDorothy has a similar passage and object that states, “The houses were not over hung by their cloud of smoke, and they were spread endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly, with such fierce light, that there was even something like the purity of one of nature’s own grand spectacles.” The passage provides the reader with a simile of the urban houses and how they are pure, similar to a spectacle you would see in nature. Both of them draw influence from nature to show the beauty of the urban city.
Both Dorothy and William seem to be pulled into the beauty of their surroundings during their carriage rides. They both simply stated the beautiful early, and proceeded to unpack that beauty along with the feelings they attached to the scene. I like William's line:
ReplyDeleteNe'er I saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will.
I felt like this portrayed his collected acknowledgement of what guides a man will, because a river in many aspects and in history, has been compared to the soul. The will do steer that soul around rock, over falls, and along the banks, shows how we must to live within the confines of the banks, live and keep moving around rocky obstacles, and know when to drop over the fall and let certain things drop.
"The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
ReplyDeleteShips, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air."
My favorite time is mornings or evenings when the sun is shining across the landscape; whether it shines on an abandoned shack or an intricate architecture, the beauty shows in a way that man can't create on its own. That is the way I connect this poem with Wordsworth's other poems, it shows beauty in the everyday items that don't generally stand out.
Even though I can tell they are writing about the same scene when reading the two together, Dorothy doesn't seem to have the awe that fills William's poetry: although hers is full of details and creates a window to their lives, I don't get the gorgeous picture that I see when readings William's depiction.