William Wordsworth (1770 1850) - This beautiful poem, published in 1807 was written about William Wordsworth's wife Mary Hutchinson, whom he married in 1802. They were good friends and knew each other since their school days. The poem has ten lines in each of the three stanzas and each line has rhyming words at the end of it to give it a continuous rhythm throughout.
PERFECT WOMAN
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
In the first stanza Wordsworth starts by describing the 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 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"
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 he goes beyond the ethereal and the unreal and starts to see a "nearer view" of her. This means that he sees her in the role of a housewife as she goes about her household work. 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 as well as blame. She is a creature not too "bright or good" as he 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 to a more realistic person going about her daily routines.
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 a machine, someone who can work, yet has 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 her chores 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.