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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  520. Upon Westminster Bridge

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

520. 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 
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,         5
  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 splendour valley, rock, or hill;  10
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!