PERFECT+WOMAN

PERFECT WOMAN **//by: William Wordsworth (1770-1850) //**  HE 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; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A countenance in which did meet <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Sweet records, promises as sweet; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A creature not too bright or good <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">For human nature's daily food; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">For transient sorrows, simple wiles, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">And now I see with eye serene <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">The very pulse of the machine; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A being breathing thoughtful breath, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A traveller between life and death; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">The reason firm, the temperate will, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A perfect Woman, nobly plann'd, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">To warn, to comfort, and command; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">And yet a Spirit still, and bright <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">With something of angelic light.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">SUMMARY
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">She was a phantom of delight <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">When first she gleam'd upon my sight; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A lovely apparition, sent <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">To be a moment's ornament; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">But all things else about her drawn <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">From May-time and the cheerful dawn; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A dancing shape, an image gay, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">To haunt, to startle and waylay

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">In the first stanza Wordsworth starts by describing this woman as a "phantom of delight" which gives an almost unreal quality to her. The same description continues as he calls her a "lovely apparition" and he further concludes the stanza by saying that she was sent to him to "haunt, startle and waylay". The words "haunt and startle" give her a ghostly quality while the word "waylay" describes the woman as someone who can distract with her loveliness. To him her eyes and hair are fair like the twilight giving her almost ethereal and ghostly quality and yet she has very real qualities like being cheerful, gay and being a "dancing shape"

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">I saw her upon nearer view, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A Spirit, yet a Woman too! <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Her household motions light and free, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">And steps of virgin liberty; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A countenance in which did meet <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Sweet records, promises as sweet; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">A creature not too bright or good <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">For human nature's daily food; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">For transient sorrows, simple wiles, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt;">Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the second stanza he goes beyond the ethereal and the unreal and starts to see a "nearer view" of her or the "humanness" of her as he sees her in the role of the housewife doing her household

chores. Even then her motions stay "light and free" indicating the softness and gentleness of her character. Now he is discovering other qualities about her which make her human, she can love as well as cry and she can praise and blame. She is a creature not too "bright or good" and he also sees the simplicity and virginal qualities in her nature. The words used are now "sweet", "simple" and he has moved beyond the first image of her as being a phantom and an apparition too beautiful to be human.

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.

The third stanza describes her as almost mechanical like a machine but with a pulse. He now sees her as a perfect woman. She has been "nobly plann'd" and has qualities of strength in her for which he uses words like "endurance, foresight, strength and skill". Though she is not of a bad temperament she can be firm and though she can comfort she can also command. Each breath she takes is thoughtful and though he sees the strength of a woman in her the angel in her is still very evident. She is a "spirit" who has with her "angelic light". There is now a relaxed feeling he has as he is getting used to her being around him and as he looks at her going about her work with eyes that are "serene"

There is an almost supernatural quality that Wordsworth has given the woman that he loves. It is as if she is not of this world and even while doing the chores that she does she manages to retain her ethereal qualities. It is the ultimate words of praise that a man in love can offer to a woman who has become his wife. He can see beyond the first flush of love and be content in the relaxed comfort of his home life with her.