Rhythm and rhyme

When it comes to analysing “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” by William Wordsworth, it is important to spend some time focusing on the rhythm and rhyme of the poem, specific of a sonnet.

Rhyme

As we have mentioned before, the rhyme of “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” is similar to the rhymes employed in sonnets.

The pattern abbaabba is used in the first eight lines:

“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.” (ll. 1-8)

The pattern cdcdcd is used in th...