In "Composed upon Westminster Bridge," how does Wordsworth’s view of the sleeping city fit with his view of nature?

Excellent question. It is very interesting that this, one
of Wordsworth's most famous poems, is not actually based on the countryside or the Lake
District of England, where he had been inspired to write so often, but on a big,
polluted city! This sonnet clearly demonstrates that Wordsworth could also be moved by
the solemnity and magnificence of a sleeping city and not just waterfalls and mountains.
However, if you read the poem carefully you will note that it is London as viewed from a
distance, conveniently ignoring the squalor, misery and poverty that other Romantic
poets such as Blake captured in their writings.

The city of
London clearly produces a similar sense of calm and tranquillity as nature does for the
poet. However, note how even in this urban Romantic poem, nature is used to show the
beauty of the sight Wordsworth is contemplating:

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Never did sun more beautifully
steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or
hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so
deep!

Although it is London
that the poet is describing, he feels the need to compare it to natural beauty to help
explain how profoundly amazing he truly finds what he is viewing. Likewise, just as his
nature poetry views nature as a whole as an organism, the last line of the poem, "And
all that mighty heart is lying still," equally views the city of London as one organism.
Thus, although the focus of this poem is very different, Wordsworth seems to use similar
strategies to explain the similar impact that the sight has on him as in his nature
poetry. This view fits with his view of nature through of the affect on him and the
descriptive strategies he uses.