‘She was a Phantom of Delight’: WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Context:
● Romantic era, Poem about Mary Hutchinson, a childhood friend.
● Published in 1807
● Wordsworth's poetry part Romantic backlash against elegant, satirical, and often
merciless clarity Age of Enlightenment, break out crystalline prison Enlightenment
● 19th century stereotypes: women should be beautiful, "sweet," graceful, patient,etc →
georgian era gender roles
Theme: Infatuation, intimacy, and love
● Speaker recounts 3 stages of falling in love. Struck by this woman’s beauty, shallow
infatuation. Unreal beauty. Speaker didn’t think woman=person, captivated and
enthralled as if her beauty=trap.
● Fully seeing=deeper intimacy and love.
● woman=real + complex=might look like angel, but still human being= wants, needs,
sorrows, and joys
● yet the speaker says still sees “angelic light” that first drew him to her; still
extraordinary, perhaps because she’s so human.
● As he gets to know her, sees how human she is=admire her more. both earthly and
spiritual
● Speaker’s movement from physical infatuation to deeply knowing, admiring, and
loving her suggests genuine intimacy and lasting love require seeing people fully, for
who they really are
Language:
● Metaphor title, kind of enchanting spirit. Food of human nature, gleam=flash or
shine=not real?
● Consonance and assonance /n/ /m/ /t/ /ent/=add musicality, evoking woman's ethereal
beauty + intensity speaker feels upon seeing her first time.
● Diacope=repetition words with few words in between (Twilight’s, twilight)
emphasizes shadowy, ethereal quality of her appearance,
● Simile comparing her eyes: mysterious beauty
● Repetition of twilight: shadowy and ethereal appearance. Repetition of sweet:
kindness extends to past & future.
● Sibilance (14-16): soft sounds to portray woman’s lighthearted ways
● Diacope: line 16 "Sweet" occurring both beginning and end line, repetition
emphasizes idea woman's kindness extends into past and future—speaker feels certain
she has always been and will be this way → diacope emphasises motif of 2 (couplet,
couple, repeated twice)
● Anaphora: momentum and emphasis on fact she’s fully human.
● Polyptoton in breath: same word, different structure (flor, florero) stresses importance
of her living → consonance → percussion → mimics breathing
● twilight” and “dusky”, related to night-time – unclear and mysterious period,
supporting, and creating atmosphere ghostly and phantom-like.
● Not too bright or good=woman not something out ordinary, does not present much
more than regularity in Wordsworth’s daily life, without being too intelligent or
possessing special characteristic.
VOCAB:
● Gleamed (Line 2) - Shone brightly or glimmered.
Context:
● Romantic era, Poem about Mary Hutchinson, a childhood friend.
● Published in 1807
● Wordsworth's poetry part Romantic backlash against elegant, satirical, and often
merciless clarity Age of Enlightenment, break out crystalline prison Enlightenment
● 19th century stereotypes: women should be beautiful, "sweet," graceful, patient,etc →
georgian era gender roles
Theme: Infatuation, intimacy, and love
● Speaker recounts 3 stages of falling in love. Struck by this woman’s beauty, shallow
infatuation. Unreal beauty. Speaker didn’t think woman=person, captivated and
enthralled as if her beauty=trap.
● Fully seeing=deeper intimacy and love.
● woman=real + complex=might look like angel, but still human being= wants, needs,
sorrows, and joys
● yet the speaker says still sees “angelic light” that first drew him to her; still
extraordinary, perhaps because she’s so human.
● As he gets to know her, sees how human she is=admire her more. both earthly and
spiritual
● Speaker’s movement from physical infatuation to deeply knowing, admiring, and
loving her suggests genuine intimacy and lasting love require seeing people fully, for
who they really are
Language:
● Metaphor title, kind of enchanting spirit. Food of human nature, gleam=flash or
shine=not real?
● Consonance and assonance /n/ /m/ /t/ /ent/=add musicality, evoking woman's ethereal
beauty + intensity speaker feels upon seeing her first time.
● Diacope=repetition words with few words in between (Twilight’s, twilight)
emphasizes shadowy, ethereal quality of her appearance,
● Simile comparing her eyes: mysterious beauty
● Repetition of twilight: shadowy and ethereal appearance. Repetition of sweet:
kindness extends to past & future.
● Sibilance (14-16): soft sounds to portray woman’s lighthearted ways
● Diacope: line 16 "Sweet" occurring both beginning and end line, repetition
emphasizes idea woman's kindness extends into past and future—speaker feels certain
she has always been and will be this way → diacope emphasises motif of 2 (couplet,
couple, repeated twice)
● Anaphora: momentum and emphasis on fact she’s fully human.
● Polyptoton in breath: same word, different structure (flor, florero) stresses importance
of her living → consonance → percussion → mimics breathing
● twilight” and “dusky”, related to night-time – unclear and mysterious period,
supporting, and creating atmosphere ghostly and phantom-like.
● Not too bright or good=woman not something out ordinary, does not present much
more than regularity in Wordsworth’s daily life, without being too intelligent or
possessing special characteristic.
VOCAB:
● Gleamed (Line 2) - Shone brightly or glimmered.
