William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Composed 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

 5

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

 10

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!

 
 

Found on Bartleby, http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww206.html

Remarks:

Wordsworth at his best: and the best thing about Wordsworth (who is not always the best of poets) is that reading him helps one learn the distinction between the great and the merely workmanlike.