preview

Compare And Contrast She Was A Phantom Of Delight By William Wordsworth

Decent Essays

Love is shown vividly in both ‘Song’ by Lady Mary Wroth and ‘She was a Phantom of Delight’ by William Wordsworth. However, despite the similar theme of it, the portrayal of love in both poems is distinctively different. Wroth’s depiction of love is the satirical form her husband is willing to offer her. In contrast, Wordsworth writes about a pleasant, praising love that develops over time.
Firstly, the form and structure of the poems are very significant in understanding the authors’ implications. In ‘She was a Phantom of Delight’, Wordsworth writes the poem in three separate stanzas with ten lines each. The stanzas imply a change in time due to the tenses shifting from past to present and are formed using the AABB rhyming scheme. Additionally, …show more content…

When the persona watched her from a far, it seemed as if she was just a “dancing Shape” that “haunted” him. This suggests that despite being a vague figure then, the woman still stirred deep emotions within the persona that lingered thereafter. Moreover, these feelings only grew when the persona saw her from a “nearer view”, not only was she a “Spirit” but a “Woman!” as well. Wordsworth indicates that a woman is a more virtuous being than any other entity by contrasting it with “spirit” and using an exclamation mark to emphasize its importance. Furthermore, the woman is implied to be pure and angelic as she is “light and free” in her movement and takes steps of “virgin liberty”. This indicates that the persona’s lover is untainted and will remain so – making her even more desirable. Finally, in the last stanza, the persona is looking at her with “eyes serene” and remarks that she is a “perfect” woman. By shifting the tenses from past to present, and using the word “serene”, Wordsworth suggests that the persona is more collected and older now. Also, it is inferred that the persona is in love with woman as he does not correlate her with anything other than herself and finally sees her in her whole …show more content…

Almost all of the lines in the poem end with a form of punctuation, making the poem more straight-forward, calculated and seemingly sharper, whereas, a poem with more enjambment would be considered more emotional. Wroth does this to convince her readers that the words she is expressing are true and that she is confident in them as the poet. Moreover, Wroth uses abrasive negative words such as “deceive”, “wailing” and “preying” and likens them with men and their characteristics. She argues that all men offer the same type of compromising and sadistic form of love by using direct approach towards the readers and using the ‘you’ pronoun. Furthermore, Wroth creates juxtaposition when she writes “feathers are as firm in staying”. The simile exaggerates the contrast of the two features which are referring to the persona and how despite the trouble, she is resistant and steadfast – like a feather against the wind.
To conclude, both poems illustrate very different perspectives of love and of what a loving relationship entails. Wordsworth depicts a fantastical love in ‘She was a Phantom of Delight’ that flourishes with strength and vigor throughout its lifetime. On the contrary, Wroth conveys a cynical form of love in ‘Song’ that is engraved with selfish male counterparts and unfortunate misgivings. Yet, both poems offer valuable insight to the readers about love and make it seem worth

Get Access