THE PERFECT WOMAN-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

THE PERFECT WOMAN-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

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 a 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 Traveler between life and death;

25.The reason firm, the temperate will,

26.Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

27.A perfect Woman, nobly planned,

28.To warm, to comfort, and command;

29.And yet a Spirit still, and bright,

30.With something of angelic light.

Analysis :

There are 3 stanza, each stanza has 10 lines. Wordsworth utilizes a consistent rhyme scheme throughout the poem. The scheme is AABBCCDDEE in each ten-line stanza. “ The Perfect Woman “ by William Wordsworth is kind of romantic element. First and second stanza use past tense , the third stanza uses present and future tense.

At the first stanza, Wordsworth starts by describing she was a phantom of delight .This poem is definitely about the spirit of woman .In the first sight ,he finds her extremely beautiful just sent from heaven to delight him. Her presence always makes him remains his mind. In her absence , he is haunted , startled and waylaid by her angelic and delightful image. He likens her to a “ Phantom” and “Apparition”, both of these are redundancy and give the feeling that this woman is a spirit or an angel. He describes her with nature imagery such as dusty hair and her eyes as stars of twilight., yet everything else about her stems from the “ Dawn” and “ May-time”. These show a constrast between light and dark.The dark represents her human qualities and passions, while the light represents the innocence that makes her seem angelic.There is a simile in the first stanza (in lines 5 and 6) “ Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair; like Twilight’s ,too, her dusky hair”.Wordsworth compares the woman with nature, the supernatural , for instance, in ( lines 7 and 8) “ But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful Dawn” , and “ in (lines 9 and 10) “ A dancing Shape, an Image gay, To haunt, to startle , and way-lay”. The conclusion of the first stanza is the woman is just mortal and an ordinary woman .

In the second stanza, making the image more human and less supernatural . In lines 11 “ I saw her upon her nearer view, A spirit, yet a woman too !” describing that no matter how beautiful this woman is, she is human and must carry on with everyday chores and challenges. In lines 13 , he describes her “household motions” as “light and free”,describe that he sees her in the role of a housewife as she goes about her household work , and  her motions stay “ light and free” indicating the softness and gentleness of her character. The words used “sweet” , and “simple” have moved beyond the first image of her as being a phantom and an apparition that are too beautiful to be human being and to be more realistic person going about her daily routines. In lines 13 and 14 , “ A Creature not too bright or good For human nature’s daily food” describing she loses her allure immediately and becomes a common housewife. In lines 17 until 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” describing the outward apperance of the spirit is that of a woman. This brings more meaning to the first stanza’s use of light and dark. Wordsworth uses alliteration that repeat the soft “s” writing in (lines 19) “ For transient sorrows , simple wiles” , possibly to slow down the speaker and affect the speed.Also, the soft “s” sound likely reflects the softness of the woman .The conclusion in the second stanza is that woman is someone familiar with also takes on a more intimate feel.

 In the third stanza, In lines 21 and 22,  “ And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine” compares the woman with technology who can work yet has a pulse and he has got relaxed feeling when she is going about her work with eyes that are “serene”.In lines 23 and 24, “ A Being breathing thoughtful breath A Traveler between life and death” transforms an ordinary woman in stanza two. As we progress through the poem, the woman moves from spirit to creature back to spirit again.In lines 25 until 28, “  The reason firm , the temperate will endurance , foresight , strength , and skill A perfect woman , nobly planned to warm, to comfort , and command” describing she has qualites of strength though she is not of a bad temperament she can be firm and comfort also command.In lines 29 and 30 , “ And yet a spirit still , and bright, with somethiing of angelic light” ties back in the initial view in the first stanza that this is a being above mortals, again contrasting the light and dark imagery. The conclusion in the last stanza is she is a perfect woman.

Overall, the conclusion of The Perfect Woman by William Wordsworth is 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.The theme is innocence and serenity . The tone is calm ,wonder ,curiosity and produces an ethereal feel. Wordsworth's use of literary devices develops vivid imagery, and as the poem goes through the same phases people do when getting to know each other.