The city is then personified in line four, as a person wearing a fine robe. The sixth line contains the breathtaking imagery of a primitive skyline in a clear, morning sky. The imagery in line eight, All bright and glittering in the smokeless air, calls to mind the image of endless clearness, endless purity. All throughout the poem, Wordsworth uses his trademark references to nature, painting the awesome picture in the reader’s mind. The river is personified in line twelve: The river glideth at his own sweet will, showing a relatedness in the view of the city.
the houses are asleep in line thirteen, a definite personification. The mighty Heart is lying still in the last line is hyperbole;e as well as personification: it serves to show that in the tranquility of the city, there cannot be a worry stirring in the heart, only peace. The speaker, again, is Wordsworth’s sister. She also experienced this vision with him, and wrote about it in her journal.
She wrote: It was a beautiful; morning. The city, St. Paul’s, with the river and 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, and they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly, with such a fierce light, that there was even something like the purity of one of nature’s own grand spectacles (Parker 3).
This journal entry does not resemble its corresponding poem as much as the one for I Walked Lonely as a Cloud, but there is still a lot of his sister’s influence on his work. Again, their close relationship helped him to capture her feelings in his poetry. The poem depicts a vivid scene that is yet another fond memory shared between Wordsworth and his sister. He uses beautiful language and clever literary devices, especially imagery, to make the city come alive before the reader’s eyes.
The passionate picture that the poem paints is a memory that calms and placates.
