Name: __________________________________
THREE POEMS BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
“Composed upon Westminster Bridge,
September 3, 1802”
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
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
In his first splendor, 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!
“The World Is Too Much With Us”
“London, 1802”
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our
powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping
flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less
forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: 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;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom,
power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the
sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
“Composed Upon Westminster Bridge”
1.
What details and features of the city are noticed by the speaker?
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2.
What is the speaker’s attitude toward London? List words from the text that support this.
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3.
How is the subject matter of the poem a departure for Wordsworth?
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4.
Give examples of Wordsworth’s use of personification in this poem.
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5.
Identify the rhyme scheme. What is the form of this poem? How do you know?
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“The World is Too Much with Us”
1.
What is the tone of the first part of the poem? The second part?
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2.
Why does the speaker seem to be dissatisfied with the way that human beings have been living their lives?
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3.
Why would the speaker “rather be a Pagan suckled in a creed outworn”?
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4.
Identify two examples of alliteration.
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5.
Identify an example of personification.
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“London, 1802”
1.
The poem decries the deficiencies of “altar, sword, and pen / Fireside.” What do each of these objects represent?
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2.
What is the rhyme scheme? What form is this, specifically?
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3.
What is the poet’s attitude toward England in the first part of the poem? What does it lack?
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4.
According to the poet, what qualities does Milton possess, and how would his return help England?
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5.
How are the problems criticized in “London, 1802” and “The World is Too Much with Us” similar?
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6.
How are they different?
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