Comparison of Westminster Bridge God's Grandeur
Uploaded by xsparklyvix on Sep 05, 2005
Compare and Contrast Wordsworth’s poem ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ with ‘God’s Grandeur’ by Hopkins
‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ and ‘God’s Grandeur’ are both traditional poems written in the romantic era which looks upon changes that need to happen and looks away from those to the places which haven’t been affected by the misery of the world. ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ is a typical romantic sonnet expressing Wordsworth’s love for the beauty and amazement of London. This is in much contrast to ‘God’s Grandeur’
in which Hopkins expresses his feelings towards the beauty of nature in comparison to the wretchedness of man. Both poems have endeavoured to use their different rhyme schemes, language and similes to propose their own strong views on the world.
‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ and God’s Grandeur both use a traditional petrachan sonnet as the structure for their poem. ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ uses this sonnet format of two quatrains followed by a sestet (the traditional form of a love poem) to show Wordsworth’s intense love for London. ‘God’s Grandeur’ uses the form of the sonnet but uses an octave followed by a sestet to help aid him in showing his two different views on the world today. Hopkins has used the first quatrain to declare his idea of God’s presence and the second quatrain to show how mankind have rejected and destroyed the nature and beauty of the world around us, ‘Generations have trod, have trod, have trod.’ To relieve this pressure Hopkins has fostered through the octave he uses a characteristic volta in order to show a shift in the argumentative direction between the octave and sestet. In the sestet, Hopkins argues that despite of the interdependent deterioration of human beings, God has not abandoned the Earth ‘And for all this nature is never spent’. Hopkins creates a sense of hope and renewal in the sestet by showing an image of God as one who ‘broods’ over the fallen world. Similar to a nurturing mother, the ‘warm breast’ nurturing the baby bird as God protects the world. The two poets have used the contrite form as they talk about the poem but have showed their different independent views in the way in which they have interpreted this.
The two poems use contrasting rhyme schemes to show their different views on life. ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ uses a musical rhyme scheme to connect with the romantic and enchanting...