Introduction Which famous river is in the poem “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”? The answer is the River Thames, which William Wordsworth observes from Westminster Bridge during a remarkably quiet early morning in London. Although Wordsworth does not mention the word “Thames” directly in the fourteen-line sonnet, he refers to it simply as … Read more
Introduction What is the form of the poem Adonais? Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Adonais is written in 55 Spenserian stanzas, a nine-line form built from eight lines of iambic pentameter followed by a longer alexandrine, rhymed ABABBCBCC. Shelley chose this pattern to place his elegy for John Keats inside a long tradition of pastoral elegy, one … Read more
Introduction Why is the poem called “March” because it captures a single early-spring day, in the month of March, when winter visibly loses its grip and the countryside comes back to life. Wordsworth’s original title was actually “Written in March,” with a subtitle noting he composed it while resting on a bridge near Brother’s Water … Read more
Introduction The main theme of the poem Tintern Abbey is the healing and spiritually restorative power of nature, paired closely with the role memory plays in keeping that power alive even after we’ve left a place behind. William Wordsworth wrote the poem after revisiting the banks of the River Wye near Tintern Abbey five years … Read more
The primary speaker in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” (often studied as Ozymandias of Egypt) is an anonymous first-person narrator who meets a traveller from an antique land. That narrator reports the traveller’s description of a ruined statue in the desert. A third voice appears through the inscription attributed to Ozymandias himself. This layered structure creates … Read more