A favorite poem

This is my favorite love poem by William Wordsworth. It shows the different phases of romantic love. In the beginning his object of affection is merely a fantasy. He chose phantom for a reason, the words are closely related. As with all of us, when we "fall in love" it's usually just falling in love with a phantasy. The person might as well be a ghost for all we really know about them.

In the second stanza he's had more day to day interaction. He has some of the mature admiration and awe that accompany true love. He praises her specific accomplishments like her virtue and her physical actions that please him. Many people stop here in their progress of love. "If it pleases me, I'll take it."

But in the third stanza he has progressed to love her for her soul. He now describes the solid parts of her character that inspire him to be a better person. I love the line "to warm, to comfort, and command." Who's doing those things? Is it she or he? or both?

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed 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 way-lay.

I saw her upon a 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.

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