She Walks in Beauty
Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes
and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect
and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to
gaudy day denied.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired
the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens
o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear
their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm,
yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in
goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love
is innocent!
This poem by Lord Byron is a classic example of the Romantic
era ideal of love. He paints a picture
of a beautiful and innocent girl, with whom he has fallen in love. All three of his stanzas use alternating
rhymes (ex. ababab), which lends a sort of lyricism to the entire poem, which
lends itself to the poetic standards of the time. The imagery, however, does not fit this
standard. He compares this woman to the
night, and twilight. Usually, women of
the time were compared to flowers or spring.
This shows Byron’s own nonconformity and the “darkness” many people saw
inside of him. He was a dark Romantic
figure, the literal Byronic hero, so of course his poetry would reflect those
qualities. He also seems to say that his
ideal is better than other ideals of the time, saying that she is “mellowed to
that tender light / Which heaven to gaudy day denied” (ll. 5-6). He emphasizes these unusual qualities with
alliteration, making them flow naturally within the poem.
And yet, the end of the poem seems to move back into the conventional
language of the time, describing a shy and innocent girl, the paradigm of
goodness. The one unusual line in this
stanza is the second to last: “A mind at peace with all below” (l. 17). This line means that she is utterly at peace
with her appearance, which was on odd thing for the time. Usually, women were always watching their
appearances, hoping to attract a husband.
And yet, this innocent woman is totally at peace with herself. Byron seems to be perfectly comfortable with
this, and even praises this quality about her, saying that he is rejecting the
artificiality of the time.
In some senses, I agree with Byron’s idea of love: he loves
her in a way that many men of the time did not.
He takes into account more than simply her physical beauty or social
standing (which is not even hinted at within the poem). However, he still focuses quite a bit on her
appearance and physical charms. For me,
love should be about what a person is truly like. “Love at first sight” is based solely on
appearance, which is a fleeting and temporal love, ready to be replaced
whenever someone more attractive walks by.
Love is understanding a person intimately and being prepared to do
anything for them, no matter what they look like on the outside.
Gordon,
George. "She Walks in Beauty." Literature and Composition. Ed.
Carol Jago, Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 673. Print.
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