She Was a Phantom of Delight

Poets use figurative language to convey meaning beyond the literal definition of words. Wordsworth’s use of figurative language in “Phantom” reflects his poetic intent to see beyond the physical to the deeper, spiritual truth of things. First, he employs two similes in Stanza 1. A simile compares two unlike things to highlight the similarities between them. The woman’s eyes are like “stars” appearing in twilight, and her “dusky hair” is likened to the dark hues of twilight.

Next, in Line 22, Wordsworth uses metaphorical language. “The very pulse of the machine” might seem to (unflatteringly) compare Mary’s body to a machine, but Wordsworth uses the term not in its modern, technological sense. Rather, he references a structure made up of many parts (like a human being). He uses the metaphor of a “machine” in much the same way in Line 217 of Canto IV of “The Waggoner” (Wordsworth, William. “The Waggoner.” 1819. Sheffield Hallam University.)

The phrase “cheerful Dawn” (Line 8) is an example of another type of figurative language, personification, which ascribes human characteristics to an object, animal, or abstraction.