Topic > Analysis of William Wordsworth's poems "Daffodils" and "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"

William Wordsworth himself once said: "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." Wordsworth, like most Romantic poets, had a strong attitude towards rebellion against the Industrial Revolution and strove to return to the “bliss” of nature. He believed that by returning to nature, humanity would no longer be subject to the constraints imposed by nature an industrialized society has corrupted its view of human nature and man from a state of innocence and natural beauty. Wordsworth's “Daffodils” and “Composed on Westminster Bridge” are poems that convey Wordsworth's concerns with nature, politics and the imagination through the beautiful image of daffodils “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” and a city adorned with a almost celestial light. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned'? Get an Original Essay During the Romantic period, nature became a powerful symbol; with the idea that nature is pure and beautiful. This is evident already in the first line where the Earth is personified as a “fair” and beautiful woman. This imitates Shakespeare's sonnet form, where the crux of the sonnet dealt with the eternal beauty of women. Perhaps this leads to saying that the beauty of nature exists eternally for those who simply seek it. “This city now wears the beauty of the morning like a garment; silent, naked”, these lines further highlight the beauty of nature. The dress the city wears is nature's morning beauty. While industrialized society “seems asleep,” the “smoke-free air” is free of pollution and the streets are silent, free from the hustle and bustle of the midday city. The dress masks the ugliness, that is, the city, but these clothes cannot always be worn because they would be ruined due to the corruption of man. Wordsworth is trying to inform us that morning is the only time when God, nature, and man can coexist in harmony. Religious images are used to reinforce the idea that the one created by God (nature) is perfect and magnificent, while the one created by man is corrupt and destructive. “The river [that] flows according to his sweet will,” provides a religious connotation to God in a pantheistic view. This establishes a hierarchy between the binary opposition between God-created, above, and man-made, below. The "Earth had nothing more beautiful to show", meaning that everything was flawless, that is, until man corrupted the purity and perfection of nature with his "ships, towers, domes, theaters and temples". Next came commercialization and industrialization, along with pollution in all its forms and dystopia. Wordsworth is critical of the man who cannot stop appreciating the beauty of the city in the frenetic intercourse of daily life: "It would be dull of soul who could pass by so touching a sight... the beauty of the morning." He comments that society has lost touch with the divinity that allows man to see natural beauty. Wordsworth contrasts the morning city and the noon city, creating two completely different worlds. The midday city expresses images of congested traffic, loud and senseless noises and polluted air – an industrialized society working at full capacity. It destroys the good qualities of sympathy and kindness in humanity and replaces them with a sense of malice and corruption. The morning city though; it has an implied "smoke-free air" and is beautiful, clean, fresh and stately. The binary opposition between the morning and midday cities represents the opposition respectively.”