ICE BREAKERS
Upon Westminster Bridge
(A1) For preparing questions based on the poem, overall understanding of the
poem is a must. Discuss with your partner and prepare a set of five
questions.
For example:
a. What is the name of the bridge?
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
(A2) (i) Choose the correct alternative for the given lines. Focus on the inference
of the poet.
(a) ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair:’
The line means-
(1) The poet thinks that the place was not so good.
(2) The poet thinks that there is another place which is more beautiful
than this.
(3) The poet thinks that there is no place on the earth which is as beautiful
as this one.
(b) ‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by’
The line means-
(1) One can walk over the bridge and ignore the surrounding beauty.
(2) One can halt at the place to enjoy the beauty.
(3) Anyone with an appreciative mind would not be able to ignore the
beauty.
(ii) ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair.’
This line expresses the poet’s feelings. The sight he saw from the bridge
is beautiful. There are a few more lines similar to the above. With the
help of your partner find them and discuss what they express.
(iii) The poem creates a delightful picture of the city, rich in its natural beauty.
Work in pairs, groups and pick out the lines from the poem which give
the pictorial effect to the poem. Write it in your own words.(A3) Find out the words and phrases which describe the following. One is done
for you.
sight touching in its majesty
air
river
house
morning
sun
(A4) Read the line :
(i) ‘The city now, doth, like a garment wear’. The poet imagines that the city
is wearing a beautiful garment. Hence, the figure of speech is personification.
Find out more examples of personification from the poem.
(ii) ‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by.’
This line of the poem can be rewritten as:
'He would be of dull soul.'
The figure of speech is known as ‘Inversion’.
Find out one more example of Inversion from the poem.
(iii) The poem is a Petrarchan Sonnet. The poem is divided into two parts-
(a) An Octave
The first part comprising eight lines.
(b) A sestet
The second part comprising six lines.
Read the first four lines of the poem. The rhyme scheme is a b b a. Read
the rhyme scheme for next four lines. It is a b b a. Now read the first
three lines of the sestet and note the rhyme scheme. It is c d c. The rhyme
scheme of the last three lines is d c d. This is the common design of a
Petrarchan Sonnet.This is a Petrarchan Sonnet. Complete the given table by giving examples
from the poem.
Features Examples / Lines
Objects used
Praise/blames
Metaphor
Simile
Personification
Number of lines
Rhyme scheme
(iv) The pride of any city is its skyline.
Write 5 lines about the place where you reside and what makes you
feel proud about it.
(A5) (i) There is a common belief that cities have always flourished only after
human intrusion over nature. Write a speech expressing your opinion about
it.
(ii) Compose a poem on an imaginary village. Try to maintain the rhyme
scheme in the poem. You may begin like this….
Settled on the bank of a river
Like a queen.
Is my beautiful village
Full of bushes green.
(iii) Write an appreciation of the sonnet. Refer to the earlier poems for the
points to be covered for appreciation.(iv) Write a summary of the sonnet. Refer to the earlier poems for the points
to be covered for writing the summary.
(v) While building a bridge, a group of people come together. They are
architects, designers, engineers, officers, masons, politicians, building
material suppliers, carpenters, etc. Write about the qualifications of
these people. Choose any career from the list above and complete the
table.
Your choice of career/ careers Skill/Qualifications
(A6) Project:
Given below are a few famous bridges in India. Find out more information
about them and write in your notebook.
(a) The Howrah Bridge.
(b) Laxman Zhula
(c) Pambum Bridge
(d) Worli Sea Link
• (i) A bridge connects people at either sides of a river or valleys in cities or
villages. Discuss with your partner the importance of a bridge to both-
the cities and the villages and complete the table.
Cities Villages
(ii) Building a bridge needs careful planning. Think about what goes on before
the actual construction begins.
• Proper planning
•
•
•
•
• You might have visited a bridge. Complete the web describing the sights
you could see from the bridge.
Sights that can
be seen from a
bridge
William Wordsworth born on April 7, 1770, was a major English. Romantic poet who was an honoured ‘Poet Laureate’ of. the United Kingdom in the court of Queen Victoria, from 1843 until his death on 23 April 1850. He is a leading English Nature. poet. His collection of poetry ‘Lyrical Ballads’ is considered as the central work of Romantic Literary theory.
The Poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ is one of the best examples of his romantic poems.
‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ is a Petrarchan Sonnet in which William Wordsworth describes the beauty of the Bridge as seen at dawn from the Westminster Bridge, London. The then world had to still experience the industrial revolution. The poet was enthralled by the panoramic landscape, beauty, calm and quiet nature before him .This poem was first published in the ‘Collection of Poems’ in two Volumes in 1807.
#Guess the meaning of ‘glideth’.
#Guess what is referred to as the ‘Mighty heart’.
#The garment is compared with.......
#The morning looks beautiful because ............
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,
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;
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
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