She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth is counted among the greatest poets of the English Romantic movement. Some scholars even mark the beginning of the Romantic movement with the publication of Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Wordsworth, Coleridge (1772-1834), and William Blake (1757-1827) are referred to as the “first generation” of Romantics; their successors, Lord Byron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), and John Keats (1795-1821) are the “second generation.” Felicia Hemans (1793-1834) was highly regarded among female Romantics, especially by Wordsworth, who mentioned her in a memorial verse published in 1835.

In Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth wrote in simple language about everyday people. He particularly emphasized the experience of the individual. This prioritization of emotion over reason as a means for discerning truth became a key element of Romanticism. John Keats, for example, would later declare his faith in “the holiness of the Heart’s affections” (Keats, John. “Letter to Benjamin Bailey.” November 24, 1817, Letters of John Keats, 1970, Oxford University Press, pp. 36-37). Because of their emphasis on subjectivity over objectivity, the Romantics favored lyric poetry (like “She Was a Phantom of Delight”) as a means to explore their personal thoughts and feelings.