she was a phantom of delight essay

She was a Phantom of Delight Summary & Analysis by William Wordsworth

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
Poetic Devices
Vocabulary & References
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
Line-by-Line Explanations

English Romantic poet William Wordsworth wrote "She was a Phantom of Delight" in 1803 about his wife, Mary Hutchinson. The poem's speaker describes his first encounter with a "lovely Apparition," or a beautiful spirit, who turns out to be quite human after all once he gets to know her. Rather than temper the speaker's admiration, however, seeing the woman as fully human makes the speaker love her even more. "She was a Phantom of Delight" was published in Wordsworth's 1807 collection, Poems, in Two Volumes.

Read the full text of “She was a Phantom of Delight”

The Full Text of “She was a Phantom of Delight”

1 She was a Phantom of delight

2 When first she gleamed upon my sight;

3 A lovely Apparition, sent

4 To be a moment's ornament;

5 Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;

6 Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;

7 But all things else about her drawn

8 From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;

9 A dancing Shape, an Image gay,

10 To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

11 I saw her upon nearer view,

12 A Spirit, yet a Woman too!

13 Her household motions light and free,

14 And steps of virgin liberty;

15 A countenance in which did meet

16 Sweet records, promises as sweet;

17 A Creature not too bright or good

18 For human nature's daily food;

19 For transient sorrows, simple wiles,

20 Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

21 And now I see with eye serene

22 The very pulse of the machine;

23 A Being breathing thoughtful breath;

24 A Traveller betwixt life and death;

25 The reason firm, the temperate will,

26 Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

27 A perfect Woman; nobly planned,

28 To warn, to comfort, and command;

29 And yet a Spirit still, and bright

30 With something of an angel light.

“She was a Phantom of Delight” Summary

“she was a phantom of delight” themes.

Infatuation, Intimacy, and Love

See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “She was a Phantom of Delight”

She was a Phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight; A lovely Apparition, sent To be a moment's ornament;

Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair; Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful Dawn; A dancing Shape, an Image gay, To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

Lines 11-16

I saw her upon nearer view, A Spirit, yet a Woman too! Her household motions light and free, And steps of virgin liberty; A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet;

Lines 17-20

A Creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

Lines 21-24

And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A Being breathing thoughtful breath; A Traveller betwixt life and death;

Lines 25-30

The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect Woman; nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of an angel light.

“She was a Phantom of Delight” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Alliteration

“she was a phantom of delight” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

Twilight fair
An Image gay
Household motions
Virgin-liberty
Countenance
Sweet records
The temperate will
Nobly planned
See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “She was a Phantom of Delight”

Rhyme scheme, “she was a phantom of delight” speaker, “she was a phantom of delight” setting, literary and historical context of “she was a phantom of delight”, more “she was a phantom of delight” resources, external resources.

An Introduction to Wordsworth's Life and Career — A biography of the poet from the Poetry Foundation.

Listen to the Poem Read Aloud — A reading of the poem by Antony Wordsworth—the poet's great great great grandson!

Love Letters Provide a Window into Wordsworth and Hutchinson's Marriage — A Washington Post article discussing the discovery of correspondence between Wordsworth and Mary Hutchinson.

A Look at Georgian Era Gender Roles — An article discussing society's expectations for men and women in 18th- and early 19th-century England.

Wordsworth's "Strange Fits of Passion" — A New Yorker essay on what made Wordsworth's work so revolutionary—and why he's always divided critics and audiences alike.

LitCharts on Other Poems by William Wordsworth

A Complaint

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

Expostulation and Reply

Extract from The Prelude (Boat Stealing)

It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

I Travelled Among Unknown Men

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

Lines Written in Early Spring

London, 1802

My Heart Leaps Up

Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways

The Solitary Reaper

The Tables Turned

The World Is Too Much With Us

Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower

To a Snowdrop

We Are Seven

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

She was A Phantom of Delight: Summary & Analysis

Introduction, analysis and critical appreciation, introduction, romantic vision, strictly speaking, it is not a love poem.

Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair; Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair.

And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine sounds somewhat awkward.

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She Was a Phantom of Delight

by William Wordsworth

She was a Phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight; A lovely Apparition, sent To be a moment’s ornament; Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair; Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful Dawn; A dancing Shape, an Image gay, To haunt, to startle, and way-lay. I saw her upon nearer view, A Spirit, yet a Woman too! Her household motions light and free, And steps of virgin-liberty; A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet; A Creature not too bright or good For human nature’s daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles. And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A Being breathing thoughtful breath, A Traveller between life and death; The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect Woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.

Summary of She Was a Phantom of Delight

Popularity of “She Was a Phantom of Delight”: Written in 1803 and then published after a hiatus of four years, this beautiful poem “She Was a Phantom of Delight” by William Wordsworth presents his wife in an “angelic light.” The main idea is not the conjugal life of the poet as the readers think, but the persona of his wife painted in transparent and heavenly colors and images. The popularity of the poem lies in the description of familial relations.
“She Was a Phantom of Delight” As a Representative of Conjugal Love : The poet presents his wife as a “Phantom” without naming her in the poem, saying that she has not only been a “lovely Apparition” but also a star of the home. The poet feels delighted over her arrival and beauty , having “dusky hair” and “dancing shape.” It seems to him that she is not a terrestrial creature and does not seem to be a woman, yet she is a woman wrapped in a spiritual aura. He goes on to paint a beautiful picture of her human body with heavenly robes. He states that she goes from one place to other in his house like a walking shadow, while as a human being, she has endurance, foresight, strength, and skills. In fact, she is a “perfect woman” who does everything in a perfectly planned manner in a way that she seems to have some “angelic light” in her. The poet rather feels enthralled with the beauty and aura of his wife.
Major Themes in “She Was a Phantom of Delight”: Conjugal love, beauty, and charm of the wife are some major thematic strands of this poem. Although the poet does not admit that she is his wife or does not name her, his description shows that his conjugal love is at its peak. The poet seems enthralled by his wife’s beauty that he calls her a spirit surpassing in the beauty that lies beyond human vices such as blame, wiles, and sorrows. Yet, she works like a machine though she has almost all the human qualities in her that make her a perfect woman. The poet is so much allured to her charm that he calls her a spirit, an apparition, a perfect woman, and even an “angelic light”. Although it seems that she is a perfect woman, the main charm of her beauty lies in her short stay, which is just between life and death as a traveler. The poet feels this short stay as her transience, the main charm of her personality.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth’s beautiful skill lies in themes as well as literary devices . Some of the literary devices given below show this skill.

Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “When first she gleamed upon my sight” and the sound of /o/ in “Her household motions light and free.”
Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /b/ in “a Being breathing.”
Consonance : Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /t/ in “To warn, to comfort, and command” and the sound of /s/ in “For transient sorrows, simple wiles.”
Enjambment : It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break ; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.

Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. William Wordsworth has used imagery in this poem such as “She was a phantom of delight”, “Her eyes as starts of Twilight fair” and “A dancing shape, an Image gay.”
Metaphor : It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. Wordsworth used several metaphors , such as;
She was a Phantom of delight
A lovely Apparition
A dancing shape
A being breathing
Similes : It means to directly compare things to make one thing clear to the readers. The poet has used similes such as “Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair.”
Symbolism : Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols such as stars, ornament, twilight, image, and shape to paint the picture of his wife.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “She Was a Phantom of Delight”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Diction : It means the type of language. The poem shows beautiful, poetic, and connotative diction .
Ballad : It is a poem having quatrains or couplets with perfect end rhyme and is intended to use for singing. This poem is a ballad written in couplets.
Couplet : The poem shows the use of heroic couplet with a complete AA rhyme scheme , such as delight/sight and sent/ornament.
End Rhyme : End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. William Wordsworth used end rhyme in this poem, such as “delight/sight, sent/ornament, and fair/hair.”
Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows an AABB rhyme scheme, and this pattern continues until the end.
Stanza : It is the form of poetry having some verses. This poem has four stanzas, the first having 10 verses and the second and last having eight verses with a couplet between them.
Tone : It means the voice of the poetic text. The poem shows a romantic and nostalgic tone .

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful to quote for a noble woman.

A perfect Woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
The World is Too Much With Us
The Solitary Reaper
We Are Seven
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
Composed upon Westminster Bridge
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
London, 1802
Old Man Travelling
Splendour in the Grass
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
My Heart Leaps Up
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798
To Toussaint Louverture
My Last Duchess
Death, Be Not Proud
Ode on a Grecian Urn
God’s Grandeur
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
Thanatopsis
Nothing Gold Can Stay
The Chimney Sweeper
On Being Brought from Africa to America
Much Madness is Divinest Sense
From Endymion
Insensibility
In the Desert
Neutral Tones
On My First Son
There’s a Certain Slant of Light
The Haunted Palace
In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: 27
Love Among The Ruins
Que Sera Sera
After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes
The Weary Blues
In and Out of Time
All But Blind
In This Blind Alley
Meeting Point
Lost Beauty
England, My England
The Lost Mistress
The Retreat
The Villain
Old Photographs
Homework! Oh, Homework!
Cargo Hulks
Postcards from God
Gooseberry Season
A Sheep Fair
You Will Never See Me
Sonnet 15: When I Consider Everything That Grows
I Like a Look of Agony
Strange Fruit
Gretel in Darkness
I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed
On The Sonnet
The Sky Is Low, The Clouds Are Mean
Marking Time
This Is My Letter To The World
The Author to Her Book
The White Man’s Burden
To a Waterfowl
A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree
I Am Offering this Poem
The Rainbow Bridge
The Good-Morrow
Provide, Provide
my father moved through dooms of love
Song of Solomon – Chapter 8
The Man with the Saxophone
And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name
The Fisherman
Anecdote of the Jar
I Dreaded That First Robin
Yet Do I Marvel
The Cry of The Children
Casey at the Bat
Song of Solomon 3
Diving Into the Wreck

A Short Analysis of William Wordsworth’s ‘Perfect Woman’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Perfect Woman’, sometimes known by its first line, ‘She was a phantom of delight’, is a poem William Wordsworth (1770-1850) wrote in 1804 about his wife, Mary Hutchinson. The poem is a classic example of uxorious poetry – poetry written about the love for a wife – and although its meaning is fairly straightforward, a few words of analysis will help to elucidate certain features of Wordsworth’s ‘Perfect Woman’. First, though, here’s the poem:

‘Perfect Woman’: summary and analysis

‘Perfect Woman’ is a romantic poem (written in praise of the poet’s wife) but also a Romantic poem, with a capital ‘R’: the poem is written by one of the leading first-generation poets of English Romanticism.

She was a phantom of delight When first she gleam’d upon my sight; A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment’s ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; Like twilight’s, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her drawn From Maytime and the cheerful dawn; A dancing shape, an image gay, To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

The clue to the meaning of ‘Perfect Woman’ lies in that first line: ‘She was a phantom of delight’. Wordsworth praises his wife as semi-supernatural or ethereal.

This ghostly or quasi-ghostly language (‘apparition’, ‘haunt’) continues throughout the opening stanza of the poem. The emphasis is on images and seeing: Wordsworth goes back to when his wife ‘first … gleam’d upon my sight’.

I saw her upon nearer view, A Spirit, yet a Woman too! Her household motions light and free, And steps of virgin liberty; A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet; A creature not too bright or good For human nature’s daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

In the second stanza, Wordsworth continues to put his wife on a pedestal: ‘A Spirit, yet a Woman too!’ The poet then moves into the domestic sphere, drawing attention to his wife’s ‘household motions’. Both the past (‘Sweet records’) and future (‘promises as sweet’) are written in her face or ‘countenance’.

The line ‘A creature not too bright or good’ sounds patronisingly insulting, and hasn’t aged well; but Wordsworth, who wanted to write poetry in the language of ordinary people and capture the lives of ordinary folk, has a reverence for the daily.

In other words, then, the lines ‘A creature not too bright or good / For human nature’s daily food’ praise Mary as not being too proud or haughty to take pleasure in the ‘daily food’ of ordinary humankind.

And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A being breathing thoughtful breath, A traveller between life and death; The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect Woman, nobly plann’d, To warm, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.

In the final stanza of the poem, the focus remains firmly on the visual: ‘And now I see with eye serene / The very pulse of the machine’. ‘Machine’ here is not a reference to the Industrial Revolution, or at least almost certainly not: Wordsworth is using ‘machine’ in the sense of ‘body’ or ‘living organism’.

Mary is still described somewhat condescendingly as a ‘being’ (recall ‘creature’ from the previous stanza), but her ‘reason’ is ‘firm’ and her endurance, foresight, strength, and skill are all praised.

Nor is Mary simply a comforter to her famous husband, the great poet Wordsworth: yes, she is there to ‘warm’ and to ‘comfort’ him, but also to ‘command’. Before Coventry Patmore coined the phrase ‘angel in the house’ to describe the Victorian wife and mother, Wordsworth celebrates the ‘angelic light’ of his wife.

‘Perfect Woman’: form

‘Perfect Woman’ is written in fairly regular iambic tetrameter, which means there are four iambs per line, an iamb being a metrical foot comprising an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. So, in the first line: ‘She WAS a PHAN-tom OF de-LIGHT’.

This simple, straightforward metre is in keeping with the subject of the poem, which praises the ‘perfect woman’ for her plain charms. The rhyming couplets offer an uncomplicated rhyme scheme, which reflects this.

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She was a Phantom of Delight: Summary and Analysis: 2022

William Wordsworth is one of the best-known English poets of the Romantic era, a period where poetry was about the personification of nature, and a new movement of aesthetics was evolved. John Wordsworth is known for some of his best poems, like Daffodils. In this analysis, I will look at his poem written for his beloved wife, as he describes her qualities as he sees through his eyes. I hope you’ll enjoy reading: She Was A Phantom of Delight: Summary and Analysis!

She Was A Phantom of Delight: Summary

“She was a Phantom of delight

When first she gleamed upon my sight;

A lovely Apparition, sent

To be a moment’s ornament;

Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;

Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair;

But all things else about her drawn

From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;

A dancing Shape, an Image gay,

To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

I saw her upon nearer view,

A Spirit, yet a Woman too!”

In these lines, the poet is speaking about his wife and when he first saw her. He says that he found her to be unbelievably delightful. He found her so lovely that he thought that she had been sent to make him proud of her beauty and charms even for a short period of time. He says that her eyes are beautiful as two stars sparkling in the twilight. And her hair is dark and beautiful as the sky of the twilight night. He says that nature might have collected everything beautifully from the spring seasons and cheerful mornings to create her. Her shape is of a graceful dancer, and her image is always there in the poet’s mind, which sometimes surprises him and sometimes frightens him. Her thought disturbs the poet everywhere he goes. In the last line, he calls her a “Spirit” since she haunts him in his thought, but she is yet a woman.

“Her household motions light and free,

And steps of virgin liberty;

A countenance in which did meet

Sweet records, promises as sweet;

A Creature not too bright or good

For human nature’s daily food;

For transient sorrows, simple wiles,

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.”

The poet speaks about his wife, who is mesmerized by her movement around the house, how freely she moves across the house and how graceful her movements are. He says that the freedom of her movement in the house shows that she was still a virgin. The poet says that when he looks at her face, he remembers her sweet promises. She was an ordinary woman, who is not very bright or witty, but she is a woman who would inspire a poet. She had moderate feelings like other people have: sorrows, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

“And now I see with eye serene

The very pulse of the machine;

A Being breathing thoughtful breath,

A Traveller between life and death;

The reason firm, the temperate will,

Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

A perfect Woman, nobly planned,

To warn, to comfort, and command;

And yet a Spirit still, and bright

With something of angelic light.”

In these lines, the poet says that he is watching her calmly, and by that, he could feel the pulses of her body, of her whole being. He finds all of their actions reasonable, as her interests are divided into spiritual and worldly things. She is a person who could argue reasonably with anyone, and all her desires were not excessive, rather much mild. Wordsworth believes that God has created her in a grand way. She is a woman who was wise enough to tolerate unpleasant things in her life. But in spite of all, she still looked like a spirit because of her resonating and bright, beautiful light.

She Was A Phantom of Delight: Analysis

The poem is about William Wordsworth’s wife, where he writes about her beauty and how much he is mesmerized by her grace. He depicts three stages of his relationship with her in this poem. The one stage is getting to know her before marriage and is mesmerized by her beauty. The other one is where he is married to her and feels lucky to have her in his life, and the third one is where he is spending his life with her, knows her so closely, and is yet mesmerized by her charm, beauty, and behavior. He calls his wife an angel and a spirit, as he wants to establish that her charms are unearthly, which is not seen in the common or ordinary women. He describes intricate details of her behavior, even the smallest thing that he likes about her, which leaves him happy about having her in his life. He describes how there is a different charm in the way she carries out the most mundane jobs and leaves an imprint in the poet’s mind. She is a good housewife, and she works hard to do all her household work. The poet is in deep love with his wife.

She Was A Phantom of Delight: Structure

The rhyme scheme followed in this poem is AABBCCDDEE. There are ten lines in each stanza. There is heavy use of similes and metaphors in this poem. For example:

“A phantom of delight,”

“a lovely apparition,” “the machine,” and “a traveler between life and

death” are the metaphors used here and “her eyes as stars of twilight fair,

like twilight’s too,

her dusky hair” are the similes that have been used here. Wordsworth uses metaphors to describe the beautiful characteristics and her charms. He writes to express his love and affection towards his wife. He uses the words “Phantom” and “spirit” to show her unachievable beauty and charm that has left him mesmerized and happy. He gives a metaphysical touch to describe her by calling her an “apparition.” He balances the poem by selecting words that would give a metaphysical touch to a human and a human touch to something heavenly.

She Was A Phantom of Delight: Theme

This is a romantic poem written by William Wordsworth about his wife, where he tries to express her beauty, charm, and eternal love to her, and how he is mesmerized by her effortless grace. He is happy that he has known her, and he feels that God has made her with all the grace and blessings to make him proud in his life. He is happy with his wife, and he is often left in awe by his wife and the way she lives. He says that his wife is not very intelligent, but she can argue reasonably. She knows to work hard on her housework and keep her husband happy. When the poet looks at her face, he feels happy. He says that his wife is like a haunting spirit, of whose memories he cannot keep out of his head. She can be firm when it is needed and gentle when the moment calls for it. She can be angelic and serene for something and tough in the other moment. He is pleased to meet his wife, and he is proud of her.

She Was A Phantom of Delight: Deep Meaning

The deeper meaning of this poem is that William Wordsworth loves his wife and has loved her since the moment he saw her. She is angelic and serene but also very firm. She keeps him happy, and he can never take her out of his mind. I hope you enjoyed reading She was a Phantom of Delight Summary and Analysis.

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She was a Phantom of Delight by William Wordsworth: Summary and Critical Analysis

She was lovely and he felt that she had been sent to make him proud of her even for a short time. Her eyes were as beautiful as the star in the evening and her hair also was as dark as the evening. In order to create her, nature might have collected all the beautiful things from the spring seasons and the cheerful morning. Her shape was like that of a graceful dancer and her attractive mental picture would always be in the thoughts of the poet and sometimes he would be surprised and frightened. When the poet was doing something or going somewhere her thought would disturb him.

The poet was in close contact with her and he realized that she was still a spirit, but he also felt her womanly qualities. She would move here and there in his home lightly and freely doing household work. Her freedom showed that she was still virgin. The poet could see sweet remembrances and sweet promises on her face. She was not excessively bright or good for many of the things which one had to face in everyday life. She was an ordinary woman. She would inspire the poet. She had all the following human qualities to a moderate degree transient sorrows, simple, vile, praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.

And now when the poet watched her calmly, he felt the very pulse of her whole being. All her actions were reasonable. Her interests were divided between spiritual and worldly things. She could argue reasonably and her desires were mild, not excessive. She was wise enough to tolerate many unpleasant things in life. She was equally concerned with the future. She was strong and skillful. She was a perfect woman, whom God created grandly. She would make him alert and soothe and direct him properly. In spite of all this, she still looked like a spirit because of her bright beautiful light.

In this poem, Wordsworth portrays his wife, Mary Hutchinson. He describes her first as an ideally beautiful woman, then a pleasant companion and a housewife and finally as an intellectual and moral being who is capable of guiding him. Beginning with a distant view that offers an illusion, he closes up to a more realistic and spiritual view of his wife. In the first stanza she is described as a phantom, which is an illusion. Her eyes are compared to the evening stars, which are impossible to obtain. Similarly, her hair is also described as dark as the dusk. It highlights her mysterious quality. Then the poet idealizes her. In order to create her beauty the creator collected all things “From May time and the cheerful dawn”. Like a phantom she haunts, startles and waylays the poet.

After their marriage, the poet gets a nearer view of her. He finds her to be a good house wife. She works hard and satisfies her husband. She is not an extraordinary person. She possesses all the human qualities, but not to an extreme degree. Finally, she proves herself to be a perfect woman. She is said to be a machine because the several aspects of her personality (The reason firm, the temperate will, endurance, foresight, strength, and skill) work together efficiently. Because of these qualities she is capable of guiding the poet.

There are three stanzas in this poem. Each stanza has ten lines and its rhyming scheme is aa bb cc dd ee. The poet has used similes and metaphors to describe her more clearly. “A phantom of delight” “a lovely apparition”, “the machine” and “a traveler between life and death” are examples of metaphor and "her eyes as stars of twilight fair, like twilight’s too, her dusky hair” are examples of simile.

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Sharma, K.N. "She was a Phantom of Delight by William Wordsworth: Summary and Critical Analysis." BachelorandMaster, 20 Nov. 2013, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/she-was-a-phantom-of-delight.html.

William Wordsworth

She was a phantom of delight.

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YE brood of conscience—Spectres!… The bad Man’s restless walk, and… Fiends in your aspect, yet benefic… In act, as hovering Angels when t… Their wings to guard the unconscio…

At the corner of Wood Street, whe… Hangs a Thrush that sings loud, i… Poor Susan has passed by the spot… In the silence of morning the song… 'Tis a note of enchantment; what a…

BRAVE Schill! by death delivere… From Prussia’s timid region. Go,… With heroes, 'mid the islands of t… Or in the fields of empyrean light… A meteor wert thou crossing a dark…

'WHO but hails the sight with ple… When the wings of genius rise, Their ability to measure With great enterprise; But in man was ne’er such daring

If from the public way you turn yo… Up the tumultuous brook of Greenh… You will suppose that with an upri… Your feet must struggle; in such b… The pastoral mountains front you,…

SPADE! with which Wilkinson hat… And shaped these pleasant walks by… Thou art a tool of honour in my ha… I press thee, through the yielding… Rare master has it been thy lot to…

Three years she grew in sun and sh… Then Nature said, ‘A lovelier flo… On earth was never sown: This child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will mak…

Fair Ellen Irwin, when she sate Upon the braes of Kirtle, Was lovely as a Grecian maid Adorned with wreaths of myrtle; Young Adam Bruce beside her lay,

MARK the concentred hazels that… Yon old grey Stone, protected fro… Of noontide suns:—and even the bea… And glance, while wantonly the rou… Are seldom free to touch the moss…

OF mortal parents is the Hero bor… By whom the undaunted Tyrolese ar… Or is it Tell’s great Spirit, fro… Returned to animate an age forlorn… He comes like Phoebus through the…

WHEN Contemplation, like the nig… Through earth and sky, spreads wid… Into the soul its tranquillising p… Even then I sometimes grieve for… Earth’s paramount Creature! not s…

———A simple Child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death? I met a little cottage Girl:

A poet!—He hath put his heart to… Nor dares to move unpropped upon t… Which art hath lodged within his h… By precept only, and shed tears by… Thy Art be Nature; the live curre…

She Was a Phantom of Delight

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William Wordsworth is counted among the greatest poets of the English Romantic movement. Some scholars even mark the beginning of the Romantic movement with the publication of Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Wordsworth, Coleridge (1772-1834), and William Blake (1757-1827) are referred to as the “first generation” of Romantics; their successors, Lord Byron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), and John Keats (1795-1821) are the “second generation.” Felicia Hemans (1793-1834) was highly regarded among female Romantics, especially by Wordsworth, who mentioned her in a memorial verse published in 1835.

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She was a phantom of delight When first she gleam'd upon my sight; A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment's ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful dawn; A dancing shape, an image gay, To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

I saw her upon nearer view, A Spirit, yet a Woman too! Her household motions light and free, And steps of virgin liberty; A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet; A creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A being breathing thoughtful breath, A traveller between life and death; The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect Woman, nobly plann’d, To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.

This poem is in the public domain.

More by this poet

[i wandered lonely as a cloud].

I wandered lonely as a Cloud That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden Daffodils; Beside the Lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

My Heart Leaps Up

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.

Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. It is not now as it hath been of yore;— Turn wheresoe’er I may, By night or day,

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She Was A Phantom Of Delight by William Wordsworth: poem analysis

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She Was A Phantom Of Delight Analysis

William Wordsworth’s poem, ‘She Was a Phantom of Delight’, tells the story of a woman’s striking beauty as observed by the man who loves her and a man’s personal discovery of what makes a woman truly beautiful. William Wordsworth was a romantic poet; through his experiences he discovered the romantic side of his life which was his wife. Through this poem he has described and emphasized his love and admiration for his wife. The poem dramatizes the conflict between fantasy and reality as it relates to beauty. In my essay I will talk about how he portrays an ideal woman and his gratitude towards his wife, through several literary devices, diction and the structure of the poem. Mary Hutchinson, his wife, has been portrayed by Wordsworth in the …show more content…

The words have a strong connotation of the woman being carefree in her nature. “Virgin-liberty” shows us that the woman is still innocent enough and her opinion of the world is different from others, as she doesn’t know anything, she is free of her bounds and can do whatsoever if she wishes for. There are a range of literary devices used to portray the woman in the poem. The title of the poem, which is ‘She was a phantom of delight’ is itself a metaphor. Wordsworth utilizes similes and metaphors throughout the poem. For instance when he compares his wife to twilight, writing “Her eyes as stars of twilight fair, like twilight’s too, her dusky hair”. He uses similes to illustrate the remote qualities of his wife and after a while her existent qualities. Wordsworth uses alliteration for acoustic effect in the poem. For example he repeats the soft “S” consonant writing “For transient sorrows, simple wiles”, perhaps to slow down the speaker and affect the speed of how the poem has been read to create emphasis of the real qualities of his wife. Also the soft “S” sounds reflects the softness of the woman, which is a quality Wordsworth is trying to portray in the

Comparing Wordsworth And Muir's The Calypso Borealis Adventure

Wordsworth has a multitude of personification and similes in the poem, which he uses to express his strong connection to nature. Wordsworth uses simile by relating the daffodils to the stars that “continuously shine”. He uses this simile to show his strong connection with nature by explaining and showing how the daffodils are just like the stars they shine bright and sparkle. Wordsworth enjoys watching the daffodils, he views them like they are stars in the sky.

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In wordsworth 's poem, a sense of urgency begins to arise as one contunues too delve deeper into the poem. It can be seen from the beginning where " Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour..." this depicts a cry of help and urgency.

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For example, “There was Casey’s Manner as he stopped into his place.” This gives a clear picture in the reader's head. The poem also uses literary devices to give the poem its feeling. For example, “There was a muffled roar like the beating of the storm waves.” This is showing how people were upset but not fully yelling kind of like waves during a storm and how they hit a certain times.

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‘Annabel Lee’ by Edgar Allan Poe is an eminently beautiful yet tragic poem centred around the theme of a forbidden love between two people, and the many obstacles that they overcome in order to be together. At the same time the poem relates back to a man’s undying love for his wife in which even death is unable to hinder. From the beginning of the poem, I realized Poe to be an articulate person who has a beautiful way with words, as he describes the origin of his love story between himself and Annabel Lee. This was shown in Stanza 1 where I identified him to be a kind and doting person, as he continues to talk about a maiden from the kingdom by the sea whom only wished to love and be loved by Poe. As this was written by Poe and shown from

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In lines one through five, the speaker of the poem explains to the readers on how life looked to him by stating “The new grass rising in the hills, the cows loitering in the morning chill, a dozen or more old browns hidden in the shadows of the cottonwoods beside the streambed.” By the speaker explaining how he saw nature

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By utilizing figurative language, and including strange, bland, but powerful/smart word choices, it really can relate to the structure of our book; even if it is much much shorter. So far throughout the story (figurative language wise), the poem had 3 different figurative languages; anaphora, simile(s), and metaphor(s). The anaphora was specifically noticeable because of the consistent use of the word "tear(s)". It happens around every new phrase or continuation of a phrase, so it appears around every 1-3 lines. Another time figurative language is showing is when our author used similes and metaphors to really show the power of tears.

Contradictory Diction

The days, which were once spent in the serene of the outdoors, are now filled with “getting” the material things that only make the hearts of man grow more selfish. The money as well as youth of people is being “spent” away on items that ultimately will not bring true pleasure to the soul. The materialism that Wordsworth encounters is not much different from that which can be seen in society today. Throughout the poem, diction is also used to explicitly show how the shift to materialism was a cognizant decision made by the society as a whole. These growing material desires did not

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (TGG) released in 1925, during the Jazz Age, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets From The Portuguese (STFP) published in 1850 during the Victorian Age are reflective of the authors context and era. They explore the changing nature of relationships through the exploration of superficial love and how mutual love and respect unite people. Both authors discuss the importance of honesty and respect in relationships for them to thrive. The exploration of superficial love is a key idea in TGG and Barrett Browning’s suite of sonnets, SFTP, written to her lover Robert Browning.

John Muir's Fascination With Nature

Wordsworth also uses imagery to expresses a similar experience. In the first stanza he describes “A host, of golden daffodils; /beside the lake, beneath the trees, /Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” (Wordsworth Ln 4-6). Words such as “host”, “golden”, “Fluttering” and “dancing”, all appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, hearing, and smell. It brings us into the scene.

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Theodore Roethke and Rita Dove used simile and alliteration, from the quote that I used. In “My Papa’s waltz,” the author used “like” to compare how hard it was for the child (and the dad was drunk) and alliteration of /s/ (still and shirt). In “Grape Sherbet,” the author used alliteration of /t/ (trying and taste) and alliteration of /s/, “swirled snow.” I think that the poem “My Papa’s waltz” has more literary devices than “Grape Sherbet,” but I also think that “Grape sherbet” have more complex theme than “My Papa’s

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“Her hardest hue to hold” and “So dawn goes down to day” are examples of alliteration in the poem. I believe that “Her hardest hue to hold”, means that it’s hard to keep nature green. It uses the letter “h” a lot to make this line stand out. Same thing for”,So dawn goes down to day,” which I believe means that a new day has begun. Alliteration is used to show the theme by saying that you can’t hold on to something forever.

More about She Was A Phantom Of Delight Analysis

What Is The Theme Of She Was A Phantom Of Delight By William Wordsworth

Introduction The poem “She Was a Phantom of Delight” was written by William Wordsworth which was published in 1807. In this poem Wordsworth describes his wife, Mary Hutchinson and his reaction to her. He describes her first as an ideally beautiful woman, then an enjoyable companion and a housewife and finally as an intellectual and moral being who is capable of guiding him. He chooses to depict three points in their developing relationship: when they first met; as they began to know each other better; and now that they are married. Beginning with a distant view that offers an apparition, he closes up to a more realistic and spiritual view of his wife. The poem’s overall tone is of admiration and respect. This poem shows how their relationship …show more content…

The poem dramatizes the encounter between fantasy and reality as it relates to beauty. In the poem “She was a Phantom of Delight” Wordsworth describes his wife and his reaction to her. He chooses to represent three points in their developing relationship: when they first met each other; as they began to know each other better; and now they have been married. When he saw her for the first time the poet felt that Mary Hutchinson was an essence of …show more content…

By observing a woman’s eternal beauty, Wordsworth successfully conveys his discovery of what makes his wife truly beautiful. Beginning with a distant view that offers an illusion, he closes up to a more realistic and spiritual appreciation of his wife. The poem is well organized because it has a clear structure which gives us correct understanding. In my opinion the poet wants to depict each and every detail of the lady from the day he met her till now when they are happily married. The beauty which the poet describes about her is eloquent but at the same time it is very calm and soft, something delicate. The sound of the poem is mesmerizing and melodic. The poem’s overall tone is of admiration and respect. This poem shows how their relationship grows and how he comes to appreciate her for many different reasons. The poem has a logical order and the analysis makes us capture the main ideas of the poet. But being a romantic description it is also a profound and realistic one. Other aspects I want to talk about are the rhetorical devices and figures of speech. I think they are so interesting in the sense we need to understand them to understand the correct meaning of the

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In this essay I hope to uncover the many instances that William Wordsworth inconspicuously places his mother into The Prelude and to explore the multimodal occurrence of paternal loss throughout the text. Although both of Wordsworth's parents perished while he was young in years, it seems that his mother, Ann Wordsworth, was the greatest influencer of his poetic artistry. The loss of Ann Wordsworth can be said to be a defining point in the young William Wordsworth's life, and have had more of an impact on him than the loss of his father. If any of Wordsworth's poetic artistry came from the influence of the loss of his parents, it was most likely from the anger he felt towards his mother's desertion of him and his siblings, rather than the guilt that he associated with his father's death.

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Only being three stanzas long, this poem became known as a favorite among many of the early readers considered it a favorite. The poem is about a young woman or lady that Wordsworth admired, known in the poem as a “maid”. He connected nature to the poem because he made a connection with nature at an early age, and most-likely thought as highly of her as he did nature. But everything changes when you think hard about it. Wordsworth uses the word dwelt, and when thought about we would soon realize that the woman he loved was

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What would be a poet be without extravagant use of metaphors wrapped in unique vernacular and topped with a bow of articulation. Wordsworth is no stranger to these three, especially metaphor. Two examples of metaphor are seen clearly in the middle of Wordsworth’s poem. The first is a comparison of the sea to that of a woman whose chest is exposed towards the moon (line 5). To personify nature as a human allows the reader to relate to nature on a linear level as a fellow sentient being. Knowing that the speaker’s intention is to make the reader feel an attachment to nature that was previously lacking makes this use of metaphor an effective choice by Wordsworth. Three lines down, a second offering metaphorical language is presented when he says the following, “For this, for everything, we are out of tune;” (line 8). To say the Christian is out of tune is to compare him or her to an instrument out of synch with the orchestra in which it is a participant. Likewise, the Christian has lost track of his or her place in the world and the appreciation that he or she should have

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Mary Hutchinson was by far the most glorious and loving person through-out the novel, and loved by all that knew her, “We all loved one another but somehow every one of us had a special work with Polly. She was so bright and cheery and brave” (Pg.7). She was a young seamstress who lived a simple life, making an honest living and was very close to her loving family. She had been pursued by her co-worker the young Jack Wilson, who fall in love with her (or so she thought), but it was normal for people to be attracted to her beautiful nature. After years of courting they had finally gotten married and had children of their own, although the second would not be born until the “father” I say vaguely had left the country. This once highly sought after woman would now be left to care for two young children while her husband moved countries to find work (not to mention flee embarrassment). This was the moment that would change her life for the worst, only she hadn’t known it yet.

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Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This

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Throughout “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” William Wordsworth shows his relationship with nature through his choice of diction, fantastic descriptions, and shifting mood of his poem. There are also many words and phrases that Wordsworth included into his poem that shows how he feels about nature. These phrases are well written, extremely descriptive, and show how Wordsworth is influenced by the wild: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, “When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils", “Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way, they stretched in never-ending line along the margin of a bay: ten thousand saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in sprightly dance”, “The waves beside them danced; but they out-did the sparkling waves in glee”, “I gazed—and gazed—but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought”, and “For oft, when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye [...] and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Another phrase, which indicates that the flowers were so beautiful that no true poet could be sad in their presence, also builds upon Wordsworth’s relationship with nature. These particular lines in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” show how Wordsworth’s mood shifts from somber and lonely to joyous and content. The lines also show how the gorgeousness of nature sticks with

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“She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up her throat and shook her”. She is sad at first because she loses the familiarity of her old life, and she does grieve the loss of her husband. But “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it fearfully”, once she realizes how good her life became, she no longer mourned. There were moments in their marriage where she was happy, but they were not enough, “and yet she had loved him- sometimes.

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The last stanza in this poem considers the woman's physical description and moral character. Her “so soft [and] so calm” flow radiates peace and goodness.

She Was a Phantom of Delight

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Her use of syntax in the poem is done in a very clever manner. The lines of the poem are short and almost all contain commas. These commas are a part of the syntax because they contribute to the sentence structure. They split up each line into two halves, and it almost seems like the commas are acting as sighs from the author showing her boredom; “I have gone out, a possessed witch.” There is no enthusiasm in the poem because of the topic of the poem and its commas. These commas also help to set a pace for the reader to read the poem. For example, when one reads “dreaming evil, I have done my hitch,” he will read this slowly because of the comma in the middle of the line. This comma slows down the readers pace and allows for Sexton’s boredom to come through.…

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He states in the first stanza that he wanders “lonely as a cloud/That floats on high o’er vales and hills,” which, in just reading the first line, may seem a bit melancholy. However, interpreting the vision of a magnificent cloud alone in the sky puts a positive spin on the idea. Additionally, the second line serves as a reminder of that positivity. He then refers to a vast expanse of flowers as “a crowd,/a host, of golden daffodils,” suggesting that the amount of flowers is overwhelming, but in no way is it a sign that one should not venture further. On the contrary, it seems a lot more like an invitation to join in on the ‘party’ that the flowers are having. If Wordsworth had simply called it “a bunch/a group of flowers,” it would not have had nearly the same effect, because ‘group’ and ‘crowd’ have very different implications as far as size goes. He furthers the hyperbole in the second stanza by calling the flowers “Continuous as the stars that shine/And twinkle on the milky way.” For most, the number of stars in our galaxy is entirely unfathomable. Furthermore, the idea of that many things existing in just one area on our planet is almost overwhelming, and it puts a great sprightly feeling into the reader’s…

Soapstone: Meaning of Life and Daffodils

The reason Wordsworth wrote this poem was to express the beauty of all nature and how we take its beauty for granted. He is wishing to convey that we should acknowledge nature because we are nature and nature is in all of use. Also that we should admire its beauty before the image is gone and it’s too late.…

Poetry Analysis Paper

In the following stanza, the reader can see a touch of personification immediately in the first two…

Starry Night by Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton portrays a very negative tone in this poem. Right away, a feeling of sadness is expressed by the author. When she says “the town does not exist”, that means that she feels extremely and utterly alone in her life. She could be surrounded by a crowd of people, but she still feels all alone. When the night is talked about, her demeanor changes. She seems to become excited and happy. The poem almost gives off the feeling that the author fantasizes about dying and has already thought about the circumstances and details of their death.…

John Muir's View Of Nature

His poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” tells the story about when he took a stroll by himself and found a field of daffodils. “When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” Wordsworth is describing how he first found the daffodils, which are beside the lake. He took his time to realize their movements in the breeze. “For oft, when on my couch I lie, In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.” In the last stanza of his poem, Wordsworth describes how he feels after coming in contact with the daffodils. He states that “his heart fills with pleasure and dances with the daffodils.”…

Comparison of Ted Hughes’s Hawk Roosting and William Wordsworth’s Essay Example

The language of the “I Wondered as a Cloud” is much more soft and respecting towards the nature. William Wordsworth doesn’t use “my” at all in his poem, because his poem is not so egoistic. It is not a surprise that that this poem’s other title is The Daffodils. The poet shows his great respect towards nature and he uses a rhythmic style that helps him to get our…

As the poem starts, it’s an erie mysterious feeling being described. The images the author presents into her poem really play a show, making it feel as if we can see the sorrow in each word being read. She states in the first line, “ I have gone out, a possessed witch.” Even though she calls herself a witch what she is truly meaning is that she’s been a women of the night, a prostitute. She calls this kind of women lonely, twelve- fingered, out of mind because women of the night are usually always depressed, unusual, and psychotic in ways. Even though what this women of the night feels is normal, society calls her out and says “A women like that is not a women,” She states towards the end of the first stanza. She has been her kind.…

The Raven Response Essay

The poem then takes a turn that one would not expect. The man speaks of a woman, a dear woman who he was madly in love with. The unfortunate part is that she has been taken from him, leaving his heart weak and shattered. The man speaks of sorrow, fear, and nostalgia of his time with his lover.…

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She was a Phantom of Delight Summary & Analysis by William Wordsworth

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