The 200th anniversary of William Wordsworth penning a sonnet about London has been celebrated with a special reading on the site of his inspiration.

The poet wrote Composed Upon Westminster Bridge on 3 September 1802 as he crossed it on his travels to France with his sister Dorothy.

Such was his joy at the view from the famous bridge that he felt compelled to write a sonnet, a medium he usually saved to put down his private feelings about his family and loves.

The Wordsworth Trust and the capital's Globe Theatre joined forces to commemorate the anniversary.

The Wordsworth Trust's poet-in-residence Paul Farley, who has been nominated for the Forward poetry prize, recited the sonnet from Westminster Bridge on Tuesday, competing with the noise of the city's rush hour traffic.

World-famous

The event coincided with the launch of a book dedicated to the sonnet.

Wordsworth was travelling over Westminster Bridge on his way to France

Earth Has Not Anything to Show More Fair, named after the first line of the sonnet, features new poems, a mobile phone text message version of the sonnet and a selection of essays.

Poet Ian MacMillan has also given Wordsworth's sonnet a modern update.

The skyline of London is very different to what Wordsworth would have seen, with the London Eye ferris wheel and many other buildings blocking the once clear view of St Paul's Cathedral.

Dr Robert Woof, director of the Wordsworth Trust, said: "It is a great English poem about the city of London - there is no other English poem that so celebrates the city as an ideal city."

The Wordsworth Trust looks after a world-famous collection of the works of the poet, which is housed at Dove Cottage, his home in Town End, Grasmere, Cumbria.

The trust was recently awarded �2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to ensure the collection of about 50,000 thousands of letters and papers belonging to the poet go on show to the public.