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Composed 1804.—­Published 1807

[Written at Town-end, Grasmere.  The germ of this poem was four lines composed as a part of the verses on the ‘Highland Girl’.  Though beginning in this way, it was written from my heart, as is sufficiently obvious.—­I.  F.]

One of the “Poems of the Imagination.”—­Ed.

  She was a Phantom of delight
  When first she gleamed upon my sight; [A]
  A lovely Apparition, sent
  To be a moment’s ornament;
  Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair; 5
  Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair;
  But all things else about her drawn
  From May-time and the cheerful Dawn; [1]
  A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
  To haunt, to startle, and way-lay. 10

  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 15
  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. 20

  And now I see with eye serene
  The very pulse of the machine;
  A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
  A Traveller between [2] life and death;
  The reason firm, the temperate will, 25
  Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
  A perfect Woman, [3] nobly planned,
  To warn, to comfort, and command;
  And yet a Spirit still, and bright
  With something of angelic light. [4] 30

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1807.

  From May-time’s brightest, liveliest dawn; 1836

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 2: 

1832.

  ... betwixt ... 1807.]

[Variant 3: 

1815.

  A perfect Woman; ... 1807.]

[Variant 4: 

1845.

  ... of an angel light. 1807.

  ... angel-light. 1836.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  Compare two references to Mary Wordsworth in ‘The Prelude’: 

    ’Another maid there was, who also shed
  A gladness o’er that season, then to me,
  By her exulting outside look of youth
  And placid under-countenance, first endeared;’

(Book vi. l. 224).

  ’She came, no more a phantom to adorn
  A moment, but an inmate of the heart,
  And yet a spirit, there for me enshrined
  To penetrate the lofty and the low;’