She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

Teacher card

Published: 1807, in The Poetical Works, volume 3
Length: 30 lines, 175 words, 1 word in 13 is long
Year band: Reading load: Years 5–6. A guide from word length, not a curriculum level.
Themes: love, wedding
Time: 5–10 min, depending on the activity

The text

She was a Phantom of delightWhen first she gleamed upon my sight;A lovely Apparition, sentTo 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 drawnFrom May-time and the cheerful Dawn;A dancing Shape, an Image gay,To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

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 meetSweet records, promises as sweet;A Creature not too bright or goodFor human nature's daily food;For transient sorrows, simple wiles,Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye sereneThe 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 planned,To warn, to comfort, and command;And yet a Spirit still, and brightWith something of angelic light.

William Wordsworth (died 1850), The Poetical Works, volume 3 (1807), lines 194–225 of Project Gutenberg ebook #12383. Public domain in Australia: the author died before 1955. Copied word for word and checked against the ebook.

What to do with it

One link and one task line for each activity. Send a student the one you want them to do, or print this page and hand it round; each link has a QR code.

Its lines are dealt for names in posy cardsin posy · 30 lines · about 5–10 min
Task for students (you can change the sentence before you print; nothing is saved)See how posy takes lines from this poem, then make a card for someone using them.
See how posy takes lines from this poem, then make a card for someone using them.
posy.popplepoetry.com/sources#wo-phantom

Send the whole hand-out

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Link for the whole text

https://popplepoetry.com/find/wordsworth-she-was-a-phantom-of-delight · popplepoetry.com