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 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;
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!
William Wordsworth (Sept. 3 1802)
Picture 1 is the west front of Westminster Abbey.
Picture 2 is the apse of Westminster Abbey.
Picture 3 is the Jewel Tower, one of the few remaining parts of the original medieval Palace of Westminster.
You didn't think I'd go to Westminster and not take piccies, did you?
The view Wordsworth wrote about has changed a bit over the last 200 years. Not many fields or rocks, and the air may be more smokeless than it was 50 years ago, but it's still choked with exhaust fumes, and silent and bare it ain't. As for being asleep, well, like so many big cities, the centre of London never sleeps.
This is the view from Westminster Bridge looking south-east
This is the scene to the north-west
And this is the south-west.
Well the sun is still shining and the the river glittering.
7 comments:
Brings back so many wonderful and funny memories! Love that city!!!
Thanks my dear!!!!!!!!
First of all for making see me a little of 'my' London and I have to tell you that just today with my teacher of English Literature, we talked about Wordsworth and his wonderful relationship with nature!!!!!!! (Because in this period I'm studiyng the Romanticism)
So thanks for these beautiful pictures that make me think about London even if I'm too far away from her!!!!!!
a lot of kisses!
a wonderful post Val... one of my favourite poems of old and one I still lovingly return to.
the photos are brilliant
A most memorable poem ... and gorgeous photos, my dear.
Stunning photos Val! I hope one day I can see it in person.
Oh Val, these pix are great, what a beautiful city. I've never been, but hope to one day soon. Hubs' company has a flat near Buckingam Palace - can that be right? Anyway, boss said we could use it any time we want. Just got to get ourselves there, dammit!
How beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing those w/ us! Westminster Abbey was my fave site in London, when I went in 1982. Sadly the rest of the city was mostly seen from the coach windows, as we raced thru town trying to fit as much as we could into one day.
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