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Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
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Background
Socio-Historical Context
“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” may seem a relatively simple poem to those living after the Romantic Movement. However, in Wordsworth’s time it epitomized a changing style in writing, as well as subtle social commentary directed at an increasingly more industrialized world. Many of the themes and styles that Wordsworth pioneered would in fact give rise to the poetry that became so typical in the century that followed.
Wordsworth was born at a time of great change in Europe. During his lifetime he saw both the Industrial Revolution, as well as the French Revolution, and both of those revolution’s effects on his country and across the world. It was a dynamic time, which the novelist Charles Dickens called “The best of times…the worst of times…the age of wisdom…the age of foolishness” (A Tale of Two Cities). On one hand, new inventions and machines were making life easier for some; England saw the growth of a larger middle class. On the other hand, many of those who owned the new business were exploiting factory workers, causing increasing hardship for the lower classes.
Against this backdrop, Wordsworth became a champion of the common person. He believed in the importance of the individual, and like Enlightenment thinkers, believed that human beings should be given their freedom to live as they chose. However, unlike Enlightenment thinkers, Wordsworth and other Romantic poets did not champion humankind’s ability to think rationally, like scientists, as much as they admired humankind’s ability to feel deeply, to experience heightened emotions, and to allow their imaginations to flourish. Wordsworth, specifically, found that nature excited his imagination and helped him feel transcendence.
Literary Context
Prior to Wordsworth, Enlightenment poets such as Alexander Pope put a great emphasis on rationality in poetry. The poems of the Romantic period, however, were less concerned with political concepts, and more interested in expressing or encouraging the growth of the inner life of the individual. (Though it should be noted that many Romantic poets did use their writing to attempt to influence politics as well, if not through their poetry directly.)
In “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth claims that the job of the poet is to help readers find the spark of divinity in daily living and to experience moments of transcendent, emotionally charged awareness of nature’s beauty.
Although Wordsworth does depend on rhyme and form in many of his poems, and was clearly fond of the Petrarchan sonnet, many of his poems also break from this tradition and make use of free verse.
Most of Wordsworth’s inspiration came in connecting with nature, family life in the countryside, and recalling an idealized childhood sensibility. In the same collection in which he published “Upon Westminster Bridge,” he also published “My Heart Leaps Up” (1807), also known as “The Rainbow,” which glorifies childhood feelings and the reliance on nature for joy and inspiration, as well as his sonnet “The World is Too Much With Us” (1807), in which he denounces the way in which he believed modern living was encroaching on childhood innocence and the pleasures of nature.
In fact, when he does write about the city, it is usually with some disdain if not outright condemnation. In “London, 1802” (1807) for example, written theoretically around the same time as “Westminster,” he declares that London is despicable and calls for the poet John Milton to return to guide people back to a better way of living.
Wordsworth personifies London, saying:
She is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men (Lines 2-6).
William Blake, a fellow Romantic poet, offers similar criticism in his poem “London” (1794), which focused on the ways the city was corrupting the spirit of the individual. It ends with a damning portrayal of young sex workers and their suffering babies:
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse (Lines 13-16).
Though Wordsworth and his creative counterparts preferred the countryside, his intention to uplift common people extended to city-dwellers as well. “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” is part of a later collection of poetry. It is possible that, though it is somewhat of an outlier from his earlier, idyllic poems, it also represents a changing view of modernization. The poet is perhaps conceding that glory can be found in the city, or at least reconciling the two dichotomies, understanding that nature is still part of a city, and a city is, like all living things, dependent upon nature.
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