Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” was likely inspired by a passage in the journal of Wordsworth’s sister, Dorothy. In July of 1802, she and Wordsworth took a trip out of London to Calais in order to see Annette Vallon and Caroline, Wordsworth’s daughter. Dorothy wrote the following passage about the journey:

[W]e left London on Saturday morning at 1⁄2 past 5 or 6, the 31st July (I have forgot which) we mounted the Dover Coach at Charing Cross. It was a beautiful morning. The City, St Pauls, with the River & a multitude of little Boats, made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke & they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly with such a pure light that there was even something like the purity of one of nature’s own grand Spectacles (Wordsworth, Dorothy. The Grasmere Journal, 31 July 1802).

In this very short poem, a Petrarchan sonnet, the speaker takes the reader through the experience of seeing such a sight and being moved by its beauty into a feeling of awe and spiritual transcendence. Using