Lord Byron

The Great Art of Life is Sensation, to Feel that We Exist Even in Pain.

Lord Byron was a famous English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic Movement. He was also known for creating a cult of ‘Byronic
heroes’ who were melancholic and brooding young men filled with thoughts of something that had occurred in their past life which they
could not forget. He had immense influence on European music, painting, opera, novel writing and poetry as long as he lived. He was the
sixth Byron to get the title of Baron. He was one of the greatest poets in English history and was of the same stature as Percy Shelley and
John Keats. His poetry and his personality made a great impact on literary minds and the general public of Europe at that time. He was
seen as a man with radical ideas by many people and worshiped as a national hero by the Greeks for fighting for them against the Turks. In
spite of this, he was disliked by his contemporaries for his relationships with married women, young men, the vices he had picked up
during his university days, and the huge debts he had incurred. He was also a cavalier poet.

n 1798, at age 10, George inherited the title of his great-uncle, William Byron, and was officially recognized as Lord Byron. Two years later,
he attended Harrow School in London, where he experienced his first sexual encounters with males and females. In 1803, Byron fell deeply
in love with his distant cousin, Mary Chaworth, and this unrequited passion found expression in several poems, including "Hills of
Annesley" and "The Adieu."

The notoriety of his sexual escapades is surpassed only by the beauty and brilliance of his writings. After leading an unconventional
lifestyle and producing a massive amount of emotionally stirring literary works, Byron died at a young age in Greece pursuing romantic
adventures of heroism.

Lord Byron's Poems Summary

The poetry of Lord Byron is varied, but it tends to address a few major themes. Byron looked upon love as free but unattainable in the
ideal, an idea springing from his own multitude of affairs and ultimate lack of happiness in any of them. His characters and themes are
highly autobiographical; most every poem by Byron finds as its inspiration some real person or place Byron had encountered. And
although Bryon was a Romantic poet, much of his poetry follows traditional forms.

“She Walks in Beauty” was written by Byron about Mrs. Wilmot, his cousin Robert Wilmot’s wife. It develops the conceit of a speaker’s
awe upon seeing a woman walking in her own aura of beauty. Among Byron’s most famous verse, it is a surprisingly chaste poem from so
debaucherous an author.

“When We Two Parted” (1816) conveys the author’s sorrow at the loss of his beloved. Many scholars believe Byron falsely attributed its
writing to 1808 in order to protect the identity of its subject, Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster, who was linked to the Duke of
Wellington in a scandalous relationship. The poem is highly autobiographical in that it recounts Byron’s emotional state following the end
of his secret affair with Lady Frances and his frustration at her unfaithfulness to him with the Duke.

Byron wrote “Darkness” in July-August 1816. The poem is at least partially influenced by the mass hysteria of the time brought about by an
Italian astronomer’s prediction that the sun would burn itself out on July 18th, thus destroying the world. The prophecy gained adherents
due to the increase in sunspot activity at the time and the so-called “year without a summer” of 1816—an ongoing overcast sky which was
a result (unknown at the time) of the eruption of Mount Tambora, an Indonesian volcano, in 1815. During this gloomy time, the sun was
pale and the sky clouded and hazy. Temperatures dropped, and thunderstorms dominated the weather. During the solar eclipse of June
9th-10th, the sun actually seemed to vanish from the sky.

Byron published “The Prisoner of Chillon” in 1816 in the volume The Prisoner of Chillon and Other Poems. He was inspired to write the
poem by his visit, with Percy Shelley, to the Chateau de Chillon on Lake Lemand in Switzerland. There Byron learned the story of Francois
de Bonnivard, a sixteenth-century patriot imprisoned for his defense of the freedom of Geneva. This poem marks the first time Byron
chooses to tell the story of a real historical figure with attention to historical, rather than fantastic, detail.

Don Juan is a mock epic in that its protagonist—while often heroic (as in the battle of Ismail in Canto VIII)—is in fact naïve, his adventures
in love almost entirely the result of accidents. Byron accentuates its comic tone with playful rhymes and, in particular, incisive homonyms.
Byron makes his satire of the classical epics clear in Canto I, where he notes that “Most epic poets plunge ‘in medias res’” (in the middle of
the story) (1.6.41), but then states, “That is the usual method, but not mine” (1.7.49), thus telling the tale of Don Juan from the very
beginning: his birth.

Byron wrote the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage during his travels to Europe in 1809-1811. He revised and published them in
March 1812. Byron envisioned Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage as a poetic travelogue of his experiences in Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Albania,
areas of Europe not under Napoleon Bonaparte’s direct control. As a record of his journey through lands in which war was an ever-present
specter, it is not surprising that much of the work meditates upon war, conquest, and violence in the name of one cause or another. The
poem also reflects Byron’s political views, particularly his support for Greek independence from Turkey (a cause for which he would
eventually fight and die) and the very close-to-home incident of the Convention of Cintra (stanzas 24-26), in which the English politicians
allowed enemy French soldiers captured in battle to return to France with their loot intact. Besides his politics, Byron also includes his love
for the East in his celebration of the peoples and places he encounters.

The third and fourth cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage were added and published in 1816 and 1818 respectively. The third canto
continues the travelogue framework of the first two cantos. This time, Childe Harold’s journey is from Dover to Waterloo, then following
the Rhine River into Switzerland. The visit to Waterloo evokes a meditation upon Napoleon, which becomes a wider meditation upon the
nature of human genius. Similarly, the Switzerland scenes lead Byron to a contemplation of political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
another “genius” misunderstood by his contemporaries.

The fourth canto of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage continues the journey of the earlier cantos, this time having the narrator travel from Venice
to Arqua, Ferrara, Florence, and finally Rome. The visit to Rome makes up half the canto. Again the narrator laments the fall of older
civilizations, and this time the subject is Venice. The city is depicted as a cultural ghost town, peopled by the “mighty shadows” of literary
giants such as William Shakespeare.

Themes in his poems

Liberty

Several of Byron’s poems, particularly those based on his travels, raise the problem of oppression throughout Europe and defend the
necessity of human liberty. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage often digresses into long tirades against oppressors. These poetic reflections bear
witness to Byron' experience with battlefields of old, such as Waterloo, and present struggles such as the Greek struggle against
Ottoman/Turkish occupation. Perhaps his most powerful statement against oppression is found in “The Prisoner of Chillon,” in which he
traces the eventual mental oppression of a patriot who stood against the oppression of his people. To Byron, liberty is a right of all human
beings, while the denial of liberty is one of mankind’s greatest failings.

The power of Nature

To Byron, Nature was a powerful complement to human emotion and civilization. Unlike Wordsworth, who idealized Nature and
essentially deified it, Byron saw Nature more as a companion to humanity. Certainly, natural beauty was often preferable to human evil
and the problems attendant upon civilization, but Byron also recognized Nature’s dangerous and harsh elements. “The Prisoner of Chillon”
connects Nature to freedom, while at the same time showing Nature’s potentially deadly aspects in the harsh waves that seem to threaten
to flood the dungeon. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage looks to Nature as a refuge from human conflict, but sees there, amid the avalanches and
volcanoes, the seething fury of the natural world.

The folly of "love"

Throughout his life, Byron sought the perfect object of his affections, which paradoxically made him a fickle and unstable lover to many
women (and men). His poetry reflects this tension, although usually with the weight being on the side of capricious love. He idealizes
women he knows in his opening stanzas to the first three cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, turning them into muses who inspire their
respective narratives. However, the fact that each canto has a different woman as its muse points to infidelity on the part of Byron’s
creative genius. “She Walks in Beauty,” perhaps his most famous poem dedicated to an individual woman, extols the virtues of a woman
with whom Byron was never romantically involved. This theme recurs throughout Byron’s poetry: the ideal love is that which is
unattainable. Finally, in Don Juan Byron mocks the ideal of love even as his hapless protagonist falls into various women’s beds.

The value of classical culture

Byron was a staunch friend of the classical world who grieved what seemed to him the desecration of its cultural achievements and
traditions. His journey through Greece showed him the dilapidated state of famous ruins, some of which had been turned to more
mundane uses in the recent past. He also vilified Lord Elgin of England as the chief despoiler of ancient treasures due to Lord Elgin’s
procurement of several marble statues from Greece to be displayed in England. Elgin became Byron’s primary target and a symbol of
cultural oppression, just as Napoleon and Turkey became symbols for political oppression.

Realism in literature

Although he was a Romantic poet, Byron saw much of his best work as descriptions of reality as it exists, not how it is imagined. Thus, the
subjects of many of his poems come from history and personal experience. “The Prisoner of Chillon” was inspired by the real-life
imprisonment of Francois de Bonnivard, while Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is more biographical travelogue than adventure tale. Even the
apocalyptic “Darkness” was written to reflect the mass hysteria that arose out of superstitious prophetic interpretations related to the
natural disaster of a volcano’s eruption.

The enduring power of art

Even as he bewailed the loss of classical culture through the despoiling of Greek ruins, Byron saw permanence in the art created by these
cultures and by his own contemporaries. In the fourth canto of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Byron notes that even the greatest civilizations
decline, yet their art and literature remain. He also contrasted the destructive power of oppressive nations (such as Napoleon’s France)
with the creative power of the artist to bring into being that which had not, until that point, existed. In keeping with this theme, Byron
used his poetry to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of human civilization while creating works of art that would survive long after any
empire of his own day.

A day of reckoning

While Byron was by no means the prophet of apocalypse that his fellow Romantic poet William Blake was, Byron’s poetry nonetheless
returns time and again to a “day of reckoning.” The most obvious example of this theme is “Darkness,” a vision of a future earth nearly
devoid of life and populated by creatures no longer human. More subtly, Byron insisted that the leaders of oppressive civilizations and the
men who would destroy the works of the past would face their own days of judgment. This day would be hastened by Byron, who cast
aspersions upon their characters in his writings, such as he did with Lord Elgin and Napoleon.
Theme of Life and Death.

 "The bright sun was extinguish'd" (BYRON 107). In this particular poem, he talks about the sun as it reflects life because as the light dies
out, so does everything around it, meaning that light is essential for life. In the Romantic Era, the importance of life was everything to the
romantics, and so they strived to live a successful, meaningful life before disease or illness took over. Opposite to the theme of life, is the
theme of death, which was also important to the people of this time. Lord Byron's poetry often reflected the theme of death, as in his time
many of his lovers passed before he believed they were supposed to. The theme of death is represented by the image of darkness that is
seen when he writes "Seasonless, herbless, treeless, man less, lifeless-- A lump of death" ("DARK", 21). Byron's view on life at this time was
very bitter, and the way he described it, it was based on his hardships in life, such as the death of one of his lover's. The themes of life and
death are very significant in Byron's poetry as it was mainly influenced by his life growing up in the era and his hardships during his time.

Lord Byron and his many relationships

While at Cambridge, he became involved in various vices which were common among undergraduates and piled up a huge debt. He also
got into an affair with a young chorister named, John Edleston.

He had a tumultuous love-affair with Lady Caroline Lamb and wanted to elope with her but was prevented from doing so by Hobhouse.

His next lover was Lady Oxford who was impressed by Byron’s radicalism and even encouraged it.

In 1813, he got romantically involved with his half-sister from his father’s first marriage, Augusta Leigh, who he had met in Newstead in
1803. She was already married to Colonel George Leigh.

To get away from this situation, he carried out a flirtation with Lady Frances Webster for some time.

Frustrated and depressed, he married Anne Isabella Milbanke in January 1815, but the marriage was unhappy. They were legally
separated in January 1816. He had a daughter with her named Augusta Ada who was born in December 1815.

After leaving England in 1816 and settling in Geneva, Switzerland, he renewed his love-affair with Claire Clairmont, which he had started
while he was still in England.

In 1817, Claire Clairmont moved to England to give birth to Byron’s illegitimate daughter Allegra in January 1817.

In October 1817, while in Venice, he carried on a love-affair with his landlord’s wife, Marianna Segati. While in Rome, a baker’s wife named
Margarita Cogni became his new lover.

In Ravenna in 1818, he met Countess Teresa Gamba Guiccioli who was 19 years old and married to a man who was three times older than
her. Though Byron had become fat and had long gray hair at that time, he convinced her to come back with him to Venice which she did.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY

ANALYSIS

Literary devices used in “She Walks in Beauty” include simile, metaphor, personification, paradox, and visual imagery.

First, the speaker of the poem uses a simile to compare the beauty of the woman to a cloudless and starry night:

She walks in beauty, like the night

A simile-is a comparison of two unalike things where one is said to be like or as the other in some way.

The speaker creates something of a paradox when he claims,

And all that’s best of dark and bright

A paradox is a statement or situation that seems contradictory of itself and yet is somehow nevertheless true. How can something be...

Metaphor -

Personification-

Visual Imagery-

She Walks In Beauty is a flowing, musical lyric poem initially written as a song by Byron. It explores the idea of a female's physical
appearance being dependent on her inner psychical state.

First Stanza
That well known first line is simple enough yet also slightly mysterious because of that preposition in which suggests the female figure's
relationship to beauty is total.

The caesura midway through the line places special emphasis on that word beauty - the reader has to pause at the comma - with the
feminine ending to beauty contrasting with the masculine night, the first of many opposites.

And note that the enjambment, when the line continues into the next without punctuation, is vital to maintaining the sense. The female is
compared to the night of cloudless climes and starry skies, a simile which needs both lines to work to full effect.

Lines three and four are similar in that line three is incomplete without line four, dark and bright meet - again the duality persists.

 The inversion of the iambic foot is important in line four because it reinforces the idea that these opposites exist both
outwardly and inwardly. For the reader the change from iamb to trochee means that the stress comes on the first syllable - the
word Meet - which alters the rhythm of the line.

The eyes have long been called the windows of the soul so the speaker is suggesting that her soul tends towards perfection (all that's
best).

The last two lines, five and six, imply that the light of the night has the qualities of skin; it can be touched (tender), and that she has
developed a naturally relaxed, softened approach to it. Daylight in comparison is vulgar and lacking (gaudy).

Note the religious reference - heaven - which hints at the divine.

Second Stanza

Nuances are apparent in this first line. If she gained or lost only a little of either the dark or light her nameless grace (a second religious
reference? as grace is elated to Christian ideals) would be undermined.

The first line, split midway and ended by a comma, is an important focal point for it reflects the delicacy of her being. Her natural grace
moves from hair - waves in every raven tress - to face which peacefully reflects her inner thoughts, which must be pure.

Note the repeated use of certain words and phrases, which underlines meaning.

The use of alliteration and internal rhyme brings musicality.

The use of opposites in a line emphasis the contrasts.

Third Stanza

Throughout this poem the concentration has been on the head, hair and face of the woman. This theme continues in the final stanza as
the speaker introduces cheek and brow and lips - she wins people over with her glowing smile.

This focus on the positive physical attributes leads to the conclusion that morally she is also faultless - her love is innocent - she spends her
time doing good - suggestive of saintly pursuits and behaviour.

She is content with her earthly existence, unsullied by life and untainted by love.

Rhyme

All the end rhymes are full (except for brow/glow which is a near rhyme) and the rhyme scheme is: ababab where alternate rhymes add to
and complement the idea of balance and harmony.

For example: night/bright.

Metre (meter in American English)

The dominant metre throughout is iambic tetrameter, that is four feet per line each having one unstressed syllable followed by one that is
stressed. This steady rhythm produces a regular beat:

 She walks / in beau / ty, like / the night

 Of cloud / less climes / and star / ry skies;

However there is one line where a metrical inversion occurs. The iambic foot becomes trochaic, the stressed syllable being first, the
unstressed second:

 Meet in / her as / pect and / her eyes;

This trochee draws attention to the fact that the two opposites (dark and bright) join forces in her appearance.

She Walks In Beauty - Antithesis

And all that's best of dark and light (line 2)

One shade the more, one ray the less, (line 7)

This combining of opposites in a single line also allows a balance to be struck whilst simultaneously implying that this finely tuned balance
only exists because of the innate competition between light and dark.

Beauty may be far more than skin deep but with just the slightest change, profound loss could result.

She Walks In Beauty - Literary Devices

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

And on that cheek and o’er that brow

So soft, so calm

The smiles that win, the tints that glow

Alliteration

"She Walks in Beauty" makes frequent use of alliteration. For the most part, the alliteration is meant to reflect beauty on a linguistic level.
In other words, the alliteration helps the poem itself sound beautiful to match the fact that it is talking about beauty. Indeed, it's quite
ornate, even showy at times. It draws the reader's attention to the fact that this is capital-P Poetry.

The first example of alliteration is in line 2: "cloudless climes and starry skies." The alliteration here is not subtle, and forms two obvious
pairs—the hard /c/ sound and the /s/ sound (which is specifically an example of sibilance). As the poem intends to establish beauty as a
kind of perfection achieved through harmony (in this case, between light and dark), the pairing-off of sounds creates a sense of
harmoniousness; in other words, the sounds—two /c/ sounds in a row followed by two /s/ sounds in a row—create a sense of balance and
symmetry.

The next key example is between lines 4 and 5, with "Meet" and "mellowed." "Meet" is a stressed syllable, which opens the line with
a trochee and upsets the poem's iambic tetrameter:

Meet in her aspect and her eyes

This stress makes the word "Meet" sound particularly prominent, allowing for the alliteration between this and "mellowed" to ring out
despite the relatively wide distance between these two words. "Mellowed" in turn shows the reader what happens when the "best of dark
and bright / Meet" in the appearance of the woman. As such, cause is linked with effect through sound.

Line 9 has alliteration through the phrase "Which waves," which is part of the stanza's broader heavy use of consonance, assonance, and
sibilance. All of these techniques function as ornamentation, intended to make the stanza sound "prettier" in order to reflect the woman's
beauty.

Words beginning with consonants when close together in a line bring texture and musicality. As in:

Line 2 : Of cloudless climes and starry skies

Line 5 : Thus/that

Line 6 : day denies.

Line 8 : Had half

Line 9 : Which waves

Line 11 : serenely sweet

Line 12 : dear/dwelling-place.

Line 14 : So soft

Line 15 : The/that

Assonance

Words with vowels sounding alike or similar have an effect on musicality, especially those long vowels.
Line 1 : like the night

Line 2 : climes/skies

Line 7 : nameless/grace

Line 9 : waves/raven

Line 11 : serenely sweet

Line 14 : so/eloquent

Line 15 : win/tints

Line 16 : tell/spent

Sibilance

Sounded with a hissing effect, for example s, sh.

The letter s is prominent in lines two and eleven, creating special sounds. Serenely sweet express and starry skies.

Simile

The simile in lines two and three compares the female's beauty with that of the clear, starry night.

The speaker creates something of a paradox when he claims,

And all that’s best of dark and bright

A paradox is a statement or situation that seems contradictory of itself and yet is somehow nevertheless true.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “She Walks in Beauty”

 Form

"She Walks in Beauty" has a simple and regular form. It is comprised of three six-line stanzas, a.k.a. sestets, all of which
are iambic tetrameter.

Each sestet serves a slightly different purpose in developing the poem's discussion of beauty. The first is simply to establish the beauty of
the poem's subject: a woman seen by the speaker. The speaker develops the idea that beauty is a form of perfection achieved through
harmony, particularly in this case through the "meeting" of darkness and light. The rarity of this harmony is also established through the
mention of heaven—this is not an everyday, "gaudy" beauty.

The second stanza portrays this beauty as delicate and fragile. Even a slight change to the light—one shade more or one ray less—would
greatly diminish this beauty. Line 11 marks a shift in the poem in which the discussion moves beyond physical appearance and starts to
consider inner beauty too.

The third stanza picks up on this idea, honing on the individual features of the woman's face and building a composite picture that speaks
of inner goodness, peace, and love. In other words, the woman's physical attractiveness is read by the speaker as signal of an equally
beautiful interior state. The poem builds to its rhetorical height, denoted by the final—and only—exclamation mark.

Consonance

What is consonance? Consonance is an arrangement of observations which are in agreement with each one due to their association linking
their frequencies. “She Walks in Beauty” comprises of consonance in line 6 because of the ‘D sound’ and in line 11 because of the ‘S
sound’. The repetition of the s sound is soothing in its quality and goes well with the expression “serenely sweet express”.

Juxataposition

Dark and bright – The colour scheme and their symbolic ideas are opposed.

Meter

"She Walks in Beauty" has a regular metrical scheme throughout: iambic tetrameter. This means there are four poetic feet per line, each
consisting of a da DUM syllable pattern.

Looked at broadly, perhaps it is fitting that the poem is so regular in terms of meter, stanza shape, and rhyme—together, these traits
denote a sense of order, harmony, and symmetry befitting the type of rare beauty the poem attempts to describe. On another general
point, it's worth remembering that iambs are often associated with walking. Their steady groups of two syllables mimic the alternating
combination of left foot and right foot—indeed, extending the analogy further, people themselves have one stronger and one weaker foot
(just as the iamb has a stronger and weaker syllable). The way this steady rhythm evokes the woman's walk is evident from the beginning:
She walks in beau-ty, like the night
Of cloud-less climes and star-ry skies;

In fact, there is only one deviation from this metrical regularity throughout the whole poem. This happens in line 4, when the line uses
a trochee (stressed-unstressed, basically the opposite of an iamb) in the first foot. This places sudden and dramatic stress on the verb
"Meet," which helps creates the sense of "dark and bright" being forced together:

Meet in her as-pect and her eyes;

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme in "She Walks in Beauty" is highly regular, with each six-line stanza following a pattern of:

ABABAB

Apart from the slight slant rhyme of "brow," "glow," and "below," in the third stanza, these are all strong, perfect rhymes.

Generally speaking, the neatness of the rhyme scheme is intended to create a sense of harmony and symmetry. Given that one of the
poem's main ideas is that beauty is a kind of perfection achieved through harmony, it makes sense that the rhymes would ring out so
clearly and cleanly.

Furthermore, the fact that each stanza uses only two different rhyme sounds helps to mirror the poem's central antithesis between light
and dark. Each stanza is a kind of fusion between these two different rhyme sounds, just as the woman's beauty brings together the "best
of dark and bright."

“She Walks in Beauty” Speaker

The speaker in "She Walks in Beauty" is not specified—given no name, age, occupation, nor gender. This adds to the universality of the
poem and suggests that anyone would be able to appreciate this woman's beauty. That said, it's also worth noting that the Lord Byron
himself is often equated with the poem's speaker. So the story goes, the poem was written after a party Byron attended at which he saw a
particularly beautiful woman (who was the wife of his cousin).

In any case, the speaker is a person preoccupied by a contemplation of beauty, physical or otherwise—though perhaps mostly physical; it's
not until past the poem's midway point that the speaker starts to discuss the woman's inner beauty.

Tone

Confessional tone

Engages the reader

He's confessing his feelings, and the purity of his feelings

Enjambment

He cannot pause for a breath when describing this woman, because she's breath taking, and he's overwhelmed.It also makes the reader
feel overwhelmed when reading the poem. (The first line of the poem)

“She Walks in Beauty” Setting

"She Walks in Beauty" doesn't really have a particular sense of location or place. Primarily, it takes place in the mind of the speaker, who is
trying to understand the astonishing beauty of a particular woman. The poem does evoke a kind of setting, mentioning a clear and starry
night in the opening lines and "tender light" later in the stanza. There is a certain atmosphere, then, one which is constructed on a kind of
gentle and delicate light—but it's not really wedded to a particular location. The poem also casts a kind of microscopic gaze on the
woman's outer appearance, making this is a part of the setting too.

Vocabulary

She- The word ‘she’ could suggest an air of mystery around the women because he does not know her. She could be anyone.

Walking - The first stanza is regarding how she walks in beauty, and the varying manners in which she walks. However, walking is a
synonym for living.

Metaphor -A metaphor is used to make comparison between two objects by excluding a simile.
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear there dwelling place.
Lines 11 and 12 in “She Walks in Beauty” are a metaphor. These particular lines in the short lyric highlight the clarity of thought Mrs.
Wilmot possessed. The phrase Raven tress is also a metaphor as it is directly compared.
Personification-Line six of the poem “She Walks in Beauty” is a personification integrated by Byron.
“Which heaven to gaudy day denies”
Byron gave heaven individual emotions or qualities.

Background-Written in 1814, when Byron was twenty-six years old, and published in Hebrew Melodies in 1815, the poem of praise “She
Walks in Beauty” was inspired by the poet’s first sight of his young cousin by marriage, Anne Wilmot. According to literary historians,
Byron’s cousin wore a black gown that was brightened with spangles (she is said to have been mourning). This description helps the reader
understand the origin of the poem, and its mixing together of images of darkness and light, but the poem itself cannot be reduced to its
origins; its beauty lies in its powerful description not only of a woman’s physical beauty, but also of her interior strengths. There is no
mention in the poem of spangles or a gown, no images of a woman actually walking, because the poet is after something larger than mere
physical description.

 it contains a key surprise – the woman he describes is apparently not his wife, the former Annabella Milbanke, or even a mistress, but his
widowed cousin, Barbarina Wilmot. One wonders why Byron did not write the poem about his own wife, whom one logically assumes
would be his inspiration.

            However, he produced it during his unhappy marriage and presumably found little or no inspiration in his spouse, whose
conservative temperament did not fit his own tumultuous behavior and unstable character.  The poet thus yearns for something more, in
this case someone he cannot have because he is already married and she is a relative.  The motif of the starry night sky thus makes sense,
because the poet can only see the object of his desire but never attain her.  Says scholar Jerome McGann, “Byron’s writing begins and
thrives in disillusion” (McGann 13), so there is something rather ironic here; he uses no tragic tone, yet the poem reads like a lament when
one considers its background.

Some critics maintain, however, that the glimpse of Wilmot which inspired this poem was afforded Byron at a funeral; thus the images of
darkness which surround the lady can be drawn from the mourning clothes she and those around her wear. This beauty is “like the night”
because this time of spiritual darkness—mourning the passing of a loved one—does not detract from her beauty, but instead accentuates
it.

VISUAL IMAGERY

THEMES

Flesh versus Spirit

This poem raises the issue of the mind-body duality that has concerned philosophers for centuries. The most puzzling thing about this
concept is the fact that the mind, or spirit, is definitely not a physical thing that anyone would ever be able to point to, but it definitely
responds to changes in the body. Even today, when science can identify electrochemical reactions in the brain that seem to be direct
responses to physical stimulation, there is no clear way of showing how what happens in the brain translates into the immaterial world of
thoughts.

The version of the mind-body duality that Byron presents in this poem is the opposite of the one that measures neural reactions. To him,
the woman’s beauty originates in her thoughts, and the innocence and purity of her mind manifest themselves on her face, to create the
beauty that he sees there. The third stanza states this process directly. The first three lines of this stanza catalog the parts of the woman’s
face that the poet finds beautiful, listing her cheek and brow, her smile, and her complexion. In the last three lines, the cause of this
beauty is linked to what goes on inside of her mind. It is her goodness, her peacefulness, her love and innocence that are all “told of” in
the woman’s features. Because of the fact that this romantic view

Harmony

In this poem, Byron balances light and dark within the personality of one beautiful woman. If any two concepts can be recognized as being
mutually exclusive, it would be these; light does not exist where there is darkness, and darkness does not exist in light, even though they
can exist next to one another, with darkness taking up where light ends and vice versa. In some cases, the two are thought of as struggling
against one another, but in the case of a beautiful woman, as Byron explains it here, light and dark can exist together, at the same time, in
harmony.

Harmony is more than different things existing together. In music, which is where the word is most often used, it refers to a special, third
tone that occurs when two tones work together with each other and make a new, pleasing sound. Similarly, Byron implies in “She Walks in
Beauty” that the convergence of light and dark within this woman creates a new thing that is greater than the sum of the two. The
darkness of her “raven tresses” and the lightness of her skin do not contrast with each other, they create a well-rounded whole that is
great enough to hold contrasting elements.

Beauty

Lord Byron’s poem “She Walks in Beauty” was written in praise of a beautiful woman. History holds that he wrote it for a female cousin,
Mrs. Wilmot, whom he ran into at a party in London one night when she was in mourning, wearing a black dress with glittering sequins.
The poem uses images of light and darkness interacting to describe the wide spectrum of elements in a beautiful woman’s personality and
looks.

Unlike common love poetry, which makes the claim that its subject is filled with beauty, this poem describes its subject as being possessed
by beauty. This woman does have beauty within her, but it is to such a great degree that she is actually surrounded by it, like an aura. To
some extent, her positive attributes create her beauty, and so the poem makes a point of mentioning her goodness, her serenity, and her
innocence, which all have a direct causal effect on her looks. There is, though, another element: the “nameless grace” that is a type of
beauty bestowed by heaven, as in the common expression “she is graced by beauty.” The woman described in this poem is so completely
beautiful, inside and out, that Byron goes out of his way to mention all of the various possible sources, to show that he appreciates her
beauty to its fullest.

The beauty described here is a result of the woman being well-rounded, to such an extent that the second stanza notes how the very
slightest difference—a shade or a ray—would alter her beauty drastically, cutting it in half. While a more conventional sense of beauty
might list only the woman’s positive attributes, it is typical of Byron’s romantic sensibilities to see beauty as a mixture of light and
darkness, admitting that the sinister, mysterious darkness of night has as much to do with a woman’s appeal as the positive aspects
associated with light. Pure light, according to this vision, is so limited in its relation to beauty as to be “gaudy.”

Perfection

There are several places that “She Walks in Beauty” implies that it is giving an image of womanly perfection. In line 3, for instance, the
poem describes how this woman’s eyes contain “all that’s best of dark and bright.” Lines 7–8 explain that the slightest variance of light or
dark would cut in half the indescribable grace that gives her the great beauty she wears. As Byron describes this woman, there is nothing
that could be better about her and much that could be lost if things were not exactly as they are. All elements about her must be kept in
exactly the present proportions for her beauty to remain. This is perfection.

Because the poem draws a connection between the woman’s finely-balanced features and her personality, readers can assume that this
woman is not only perfect in her looks, but in her personality as well. She is perfect through-and-through. It is fitting for a romantic
expression of love that Byron’s claims about her should be so extreme as to say that she is not just good, not great, but perfect. In poetry,
the device of overstating things with great exaggeration is called hyperbole. Lovers often make such exaggerated claims about those who
are the objects of their affections, driven by the excitement of their emotions. It is typical of Byron to casually shower such praise on a
woman with whom he had no direct romantic involvement at all.

Style

The three six-line stanzas of this poem all follow the same rhyme scheme and the same metrical pattern. There are only six rhyming
sounds in this eighteen-line poem because the poem rhymes ababab, cdcdcd, efefef. The pairing of two rhyming sounds in each stanza
works well because the poem concerns itself with the two forces—darkness and light—at work in the woman’s beauty, and also the two
areas of her beauty—the internal and the external. The rhyming words themselves, especially in the first stanza, have importance: notice
how “night” rhymes with its opposites, “light” and “bright,” in the same way that this woman contains the two opposing forces in her
particular type of beauty. Oftentimes poets use their poetic structures to mirror what the poem’s chief concerns are. Poetic form—stanzas
and meter—and content—what the poem’s subject is—are almost always related.

The meter is also very regular—iambic tetrameter. This means there are four—“tetra” is Greek for four—iambs per line. An iamb means
that the line is divided into units, or feet, of two syllables, and each unit has an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. This
can be clearly seen if you look closely at the construction of a particular line:

She walks/in beau/ty like/the night.

This poem was included in Byron’s 1815 book, Hebrew Melodies, which included poems written to be set to adaptations of traditional
Jewish tunes. This very regular iambic line is very suitable for being set to music because of its strong rhythm.

Woman as a muse.

A muse, in the most basic sense, is a person who serves as an inspiration to an artist. The word itself dates back to Greek mythology, with
Zeus’ daughters forming the nine Muses who presided over the arts and science. This ethereal quality to the term adds a weight and sense
of grandiosity.

“The idea of ‘invoking the muse’ suggests a spirit, not a person”. “A muse supposedly provides a source of inspiration for an artist, but that
‘source’ can come in so many different forms, whether that’s posing as an artist’s model or just offering advice and support through the
creative process.” The muse in her purest aspect is the feminine part of the male artist, with which he must have intercourse if he is to
bring into being a new work. She is the anima to his animus, the yin to his yang, except that, in a reversal of gender roles, she penetrates
or inspires him and he gestates and brings forth, from the womb of the mind. Painters don't claim muses until painting begins to take itself
as seriously as poetry. Today the word refers to a person who serves as an artist’s source of inspiration ― traditionally, a role reserved for
women. “As women, for centuries we were not allowed to be artists but we were muses,” artist and self-described muse Coco Dolle told
HuffPost. “We were always venerated in that sense. And I feel that legacy is still prevailing. It’s part of the romantic idea of the art world.”
This can also be seen in the poetry where the lady functions as the poet’s muse. ( The description and analysis of the poetry brings out the
idea of muse.)

Feminists today are against this idea as they contest the objectification of women’s body. They showcase the stories of many women who
were subjected to the perversion of artists and supressed forever in the realm of art without having a chance to realize their potential.

Woman’s Hair

The ideas regarding a woman’s hair throughout history shows that it is an important part of her personality and anatomy.
 Femininity: History shows that hair is a symbol of femininity. During the civil war when women weren’t to battle, hundreds of women
soldiers disguised themselves as men by cutting off their hair, eventually being imprisoned upon discovery. After the Battle of France in
1940, French women’s heads were shaved as punishment for their sexual relationships with German soldiers. Today a woman’s hair
remains a symbol of femininity.

• Identity: It’s no wonder women feel like their hair is a “crowning glory,” as this phrase dates back to Biblical times. According to 1
Corinthians 11: 15, “but for a woman, if her hair is abundant, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.” As shown in 1
Corinthians 11: 5, “and every woman, who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonors her head; for she is on a level with her
whose head is shaven.” The negative implication of a woman with a bare head is apparent in today’s society.

• Freedom and beauty: Lady Godiva’s naked ride through the streets has made her a heroine to the common people of Coventry. The
image of Lady Godiva riding a horse with her body covered with only her long hair has become a symbol of civic freedom and beauty.

• Liberation: In the 1950s, female communists and soldiers in China favored a short bob cut just below the ears. This simple hairstyle was
named the “Liberation Hairdo” because it is a symbol of women taking control over their own lives. Women continue to use their hairdo to
express themselves.

Mystic powers – The hair of a woman also shows the magical power of her personality. The tale of Rapunzel with her healing hair comes
from this idea. The lady in the poem uses hair to complement balance her light and dark aspects.

The poet’s description of hair also points to the medieval concept of body features aligning with the character of a person. A woman with
a short haircut is seen as practical while long hair gives the impression of care and love.

Hair and beauty is a multibillion-dollar industry, and the average woman spends approximately $50,000 on her hair over her lifetime and
almost two hours a week washing and styling her hair. This is not just because many of us believe that appearances are important, but also
because our hair represents our personality, thoughts and beliefs. For centuries, women have been able to play different roles by changing
different hairstyles, and from their stories, we can see that hair contributes greatly to women’s self-esteem, actions and motives.

Woman and nature in poetry

Possible Theories for connecting women with nature

Descending from precursory languages such as Anglo-Saxon (Old English), Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek and French. –
Most of the words that stand for nature in ancient languages were of female gender

 Based on the qualities generally associated with women and differences between gender roles. 3)  Connection between
Woman and Nature and the life cycle

 2)  Gender Role of Woman

- Nature is feminized because it is seen as possessing the same qualities as women at the time when most of the romantic writing was
produced Women were seen as being domestic, pious, moral, pure, gentle, kind, graceful, simple and beautiful; this was according to the
nature of separate spheres: men and women were fundamentally different in terms of their characteristics as men were seen as hard-
working, industrial, rational, assertive, independent and proud; none of which is easily connected with nature. Therefore nature was seen
as the embodiment of all the characteristics that women possess and there are frequent references to this in literature, especially poetry

Women as inspiration for men:  “Women have a far more difficult time claiming Romantic inspiration because, according to literary
tradition, inspiration comes from the female muse to the male poet” (Fay 11).Sublimity is associated with qualities of males, but “was still
mostly associated with the presence of Nature, conceived as feminine and maternal, beneficent as well as destructive” (Fay 13).  “The High
Romantics…use[d] Nature as an access to the masculine sublime” (13). The sublime is specifically a male achievement
gained through women as female objects or through female Nature, and so is closed off to women writers” (14). This leads
to Mulvey’s essay about men as the beholder and women as the subject.“Woman then stands in patriarchal culture as signifier for the
male other, bound by a symbolic order in which man can live out his phantasies and obsessions through linguistic command by imposing
them on the silent image of woman still tied to her place as bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning.”  (586)“In a world ordered by
sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.” (589)As men traveled, they were
separated from women and used their form in poetry to create a closeness with the female form. For the masculine ego, women and
nature became instruments for self-definition and the feminization of nature suggests the romance of travel and
perception“[P]erception is characterized by the wandering of the eye, and the search for something new and of interest, which piques
rather than satisfies desire.” (176)“The feminizing of the object suggests the romance of perception, and perhaps of travel in general—the
objects that come to attention, which are singled out, or seem singular of their own account, appear destined in hindsight to have brought
something of personal significance.” (176) Due to the fact that male travelers didn’t encounter many females during their travels, the
feminization of nature could also indicate the sexual desire of the male traveler.Therefore the process of viewing nature is parallel with
the process of viewing women and selecting a possible mate; this is apparent in both travel texts and poetry. - The references to
reproduction and fertility may symbolize the continuity of nature; the continuity and change of seasons indicate that the earth continues
in a balanced cycle, similar to the life cycle of humans. Because women are responsible for the continuity of the life cycle, they are often
associated with seasons, for example the ‘rebirth of the land’ in the springtime. The concept of connecting women with nature dates back
to the times of ancient classical mythology, with several goddesses being strongly connected to the earth, eg. Persephone and mother
Demeter. many aspects of nature are ‘born’ from the earth, this can be likened to the opening of the womb to produce life; there are
several literary references to reproductive terms such as womb and bosom, eg. “Paradise Lost”

The Ideal of Greek Beauty

For the female body, today as in the Ancient Greece, the beauty of a woman is appreciated if she has firm buttocks and bosoms, a face
characterized by childish traits and mature features. The only thing that change, talking about the ideal female body, is the size.

Summary

Stanza 1

The Speaker opens the poem with perhaps the two most famous lines that Byron has ever written: 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.  Right from the start, Byron sets
the tone of the poem with a comparison that seems almost divine – beauty like the vast, starry night. The star and the night are opposing
forces that are brought into unity, the clouds that could confuse this union are strictly kept at bay with the adjective cloudless. In addition,
Byron relies on a common Romantic device here – the reliance on nature as a source of beauty and imagery.  The Romantics had an
affinity for wild, uncultivated nature, but in this work, Byron prefers a tamer sort; her beauty is clearly not wild, as the line “Which heaven
to gaudy day denies.”  According to Byron scholar Frederick Shilstone, his use of night as a metaphor contains “hints of immortality,” since
the night sky is seemingly endless (Shilstone 100).  The poet continues, “And all that’s best of dark and bright/Meet in her aspect and her
eyes;” the woman he describes seems to combine romantic enigma with the clarity, warmth, and life implied by sunshine.  Her beauty
thus seems refined and subtle, not radiant and showy. Her beauty does not seem purely physical, either; instead, it is almost an aura, a
shield of beauty, unaware and almost innocent in its unawareness. The poem opens with the same words that form the title: "She walks in
beauty." These four simple words quickly create an atmosphere of admiration and mystery. The reader gathers that the poem is, most
likely, going to praise a woman's beauty. But this isn't a beautiful woman taking a walk, nor a woman walking beautifully—beauty is
something that she walks inside of. The woman’s beauty is partly a result of the contrasts between dark (we learn later on she has ‘raven’
hair, i.e. black) and bright (her eyes may be bright blue, but her skin may also be pale, conforming to the Western idea of beauty at the
time). The word aspect here stands as a marker for the external beauty of the woman. The external beauty as described here is not just
the physical feminine structure that is naturally attractive to a man but also the way she carries herself around. It is her body language that
interests the speaker. For the speaker it seems subtle, unpretentious, open and sensitive. She is able to convey all this through her body
language and it doesn’t take much effort from her part. As far as any man is concerned the aspect of subtility is something very attractive
and is also a trait that Victorian men searched in women. This woman radiates subtility with majesty her subtility is not her vulnerability. It
is something that springs from her control over the “bright and dark” portions of the material and spiritual world. A woman who is subtle
is a woman who is open to new possibilities. She is patient and is ready to weigh and consider various ideas before building conclusions
over it. Her unpretentious nature makes her attractive because of the virtue of originality. She is happy by being who she is and is not
ready to change her commitments, ideologies and beliefs for wayward opinions. Here we can see Byron hinting at a more revolutionary
perspective on the ideal attitude of a woman. He is very silently espousing the idea of a brooding woman of strong self-worth as opposed
to Victorian woman who is submissive, shy and easily excited by the ideas of the masculine realm. Byron himself was a man who pursued
romantic and sexual relationships quite liberally and there is no surprise when he becomes the architect for this new model of feminine
attitude. Through the poem he envisages a strong intellectual woman who looks into the dark and bright side of an argument without
taking her power of comprehension for granted. Though she is quite logical with the information that is projected on to her she doesn’t
take any advantage of her superior state. Her ability to keep herself innocent while dealing with the bright and dark side of life is
remarkable. Byron through his acute observation has picked up her openness to the elements surrounding her. She is open to every new
person that she meets and is fine with new perspectives and ideas even if they contradict hers. Her sensitiveness is another aspect that
piqued Byron’s interests. She is sensitive both emotionally and intellectually it is her quality of sensitivity that provides nourishment to
other qualities that she possesses. Her sensitivity is the primary factor that helps her understand both “bright and dark” sides of her life.
These qualities are seen both in her ‘‘aspects and her eyes’’. The phrase best ‘’ of both dark and bright’’ shows the reconciliation of
opposites. Her beauty is so majestic that it can wield a perfect unity between these binary opposites. In another view humans are divided
into dark natured (negative outlook) and light natured (positive outlook) personalities. The dominance of positive or negative factor in a
person doesn’t mean that a person is good or bad it simply defines tilt of the thought between the cheerful optimistic nature and the
melancholic brooding nature. Only a few are able to stand in between. These are the people who clearly understand the mechanics of the
universe. They understand the true nature and the purpose of opposites in life. They know that both, dark natured and light natured
physical beings are essential to maintain a balance in physicality. It’s true that along the history, it’s mostly been the dark natured humans
who ended up instigating violence – it’s mostly because a dark natured mind can easily get pulled into hatred or anger. In the absence of a
“conscious wisdom”, it’s very likely that a dark natured mind to gets pulled into hatred, whereas a light natured mind usually gets pulled
into lack based thinking and can develop “victim mindsets”. They are people who can see the wisdom in the contradiction of energy. They
enlighten the problem with idea that negativity of all forms arises out of a lack of consciousness, be it in a dark natured human or light
natured human. In the presence of consciousness, a light natured person is able to bring a wisdom to their “service oriented” compassion.
And in the presence of consciousness, a dark nature human stays in alignment with his/her positive expression rather than be sucked into
self-hatred or other forms of hate-based thinking. Most dark natured and light natured humans often find themselves questioning their
nature. However people like her who has attained balance understand that they don’t have to “change” themselves to fit in, they just
need to align with themselves, which will cause the attraction of a congruent reality, and thus allow their natural expression to flower
through. Byron also notices that she radiates this confidence to others and inspires them to be happy with themselves and the
surrounding.
 The classical aesthetic notions on coupling black and white colours. Colours are wavelengths reflected by objects to the human eye.
White is pure light and black is the absence of light. Black is visually heavy. Its message is therefore very strong. Black’s most common
association is power, authority, and strength. It is for this reason that too much black can become overwhelming. In stories of good versus
evil black and darkness is always symbolic of the villain (demons). Other associations of black include intelligence (black horn-rimmed
glasses), professionalism (suit and briefcase), mourning and mystery. As a deep and serious color, black can direct communication in a
powerful way. White is considered safe and open. While black is symbolic of evil, white is directly linked to that which is righteous, good
and peaceful (angels). Furthermore, white projects clarity, cleanliness (doctors in white coats), purity (wedding dresses) and salvation.
White is said to promote creative thought (a blank whiteboard) and is also synonymous with fresh beginnings (her appearance at the party
even though she was mourning could allude to this sign). As a positive, clear and open color, white can direct communication in a powerful
way. The black dress sharply contrasted with her pale skin and created an aesthetic treat. It’s important to recognize that although
quintessentially opposite in a cultural and visual sense, black and white complete each other while competing at the same time. This leads
to an effect that projects the subject and her precise balance between the two aspects.

Her eyes are mentioned here as having the same beautiful aura as that of her body language. Eyes are often considered as the windows to
the soul of a person because they’re the most sincere part of the face. We don’t have any control over our eyes, as opposed to the mouth,
for example. When you like something, your pupils dilate involuntarily and give you away, and they contract as a sign of rejection. When
your eyes elongate, wrinkle, and shine more than normal, you probably feel pretty good. You don’t need to see someone smile to notice
that they’re happy. If someone is looking at you with open eyes and a penetrating gaze, it means they’re paying attention to what you’re
saying and to what’s happening. If they’re talking to you, they’re paying attention to your words, and you’d have to focus on other
nonverbal features to figure out if they’re judging you for better or worse. Through the windows of the soul, we can see sadness, one of
the emotions we feel the most but often try to hide. In this case, the eyelids raise, as does the lower edge of the eyebrows. When we get
angry, our eyebrows arch, and our expression is completely serious. Sometimes, we even frown. When we listen to someone and narrow
our eyes, we’re indicating that we’re either evaluating what they’re saying and doubting its validity, or we don’t understand what they’re
saying. Half-closed eyes can also indicate tiredness. By basing himself on this thory Byron asserts that her internal beauty is just as
magnificent as her external beauty because her eyes radiates the same aura. It is her constructive characteristics generate beauty around
her.

The woman can also be taken as a muse. The poet says that his muse bathes in beauty which is as enthralling as that of a cloudless starry
night. A cloudless starry night is a kind of poetic machinery which is employed by poets to add capacity of wonder and a hint of mysticism
to something. When the poet looks at his muse it seems to him as if the shimmering beauty of a clear night sky decorated with stars has
been transferred to her.

Her beauty mellows or softens the contrasts between these light and dark extremes, like the bright stars against the dark night sky (a sight
which ‘gaudy day’, when the sun is shining showily and brightly, denies to us).

The caesura break after "beauty" allows the reader to consider what it means to be in beauty, as opposed to merely beautiful. That said,
the meaning here is fairly ambiguous. It could be that the woman "walks in beauty" because, as a prime example of beauty, she is in a way
at its gravitational center. In other words, beauty is drawn to her and surrounds her. This is supported by the idea in lines 3 and 4 (that
"dark and bright" light are drawn to the woman's appearance). It could also be that her own beauty somehow makes the world around her
more beautiful—like an aura of beauty that surrounds her as she walks. The contrast between "night" and "starry skies" also sets up the
poem's central idea: that beauty is a kind of perfection achieved through harmony. In this particular case, it's specifically through a
delicate balance of "dark and bright."

An already complicated sentiment is complicated further by the simile that follows. Either the woman, the way she walks, or beauty itself
is compared to "the night / of cloudless climes and starry skies." It's a fairly elusive simile because it's not clear exactly which elements of
the sentence are being compared—though arguably this heightens the sense of mystery around the woman's unparalleled physical
beauty.

The poem also specifies a particular kind of night. These are nights when there isn't a cloud in the sky and the stars are shining bright.
Here, then, the poem starts to develop its interplay of light and dark—an antithesis that is resolved in the beauty of the woman. The
heavy alliteration (and sibilance) here is deliberately ornamental and decorative, and is meant to suggest physical beauty:

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

Also worth noting is the way in which the first two lines are paired together through enjambment—they are part of the same sentence.
Line 2 is then end-stopped, further reinforcing the sense that the first two lines make a distinct pair. This is quite common in the poem
and is suggestive of the idea of beauty as a kind of harmony or perfection—the two lines joining to make each other complete.

It is interesting to note that the poet compares his beloved’s beauty to night, rather than daylight – in fact, day is considered gaudy, on
behalf of the poet –  because the tradition for Romantic poetry was to compare one to nature, but to bright nature. The darkness of the
word ‘night’ seems to be a reference to the Greek ideal, beauty that is so strong that it could be almost catastrophic. Helen of Troy was
one such beauty; this woman seems to be another, a divine being whose sole purpose in the poem is a shift of chiaroscuro balance.

Stanza 2
The balance between ‘shade’ and ‘light’ in the lady’s beauty is so perfect that if one more ‘shade’, is added or a single ‘ray’ of light is taken
away it would partially damage the woman’s beauty. Her beauty and ‘grace’ are so hard to define that they are ‘nameless’. This ‘nameless
grace’ is visible in every lock of her black (raven) hair (tress) and it ‘lightens’ her face. The balance between light and dark that creates her
‘nameless grace’ is apparent in both her dark hair and in the expression that ‘lightens her face.’ Her sweet expressions are reflected of
what is going on inside her mind. The poet goes on to compare and contrast different aspects of beauty: her dark hair, and her white face,
which the light hits, seems to recall to images of the Virgin Mary. It is easier to make associations with the divine and the religious due to
the poem’s structure, that of a hymnal. There is also an emphasis – which would further strengthen the images of religion – to innocence.
The lady’s beauty is largely innocent, almost virginal, and the poet cannot find a word that fully encompasses her beauty. She reconciles
dark and light together, appearing both glowing, and also shrouded in darkness. One could make the association that the darkness that
surrounds her – given that Byron met Mrs. Wilmont at a funeral – could be a spiritual darkness, and that her radiance was further set off
by the dim spirits at the funeral. Look at the assonance in those first four lines! We have shade, ray, nameless, grace, waves, and raven.
Another aspect is the “nameless grace” which is a kind of exquisiteness presented by paradise. The lady portrayed in “She Walks in
Beauty” is so utterly beautiful that Byron goes out of his league to point out the diverse potential basis, to demonstrate that he is grateful
for her beauty to its fullest and values its presence.What Byron is essentially saying is that the woman’s beauty is precise: if the balance of
light and dark in her features were slightly different, it would risk ruining her beauty (‘Had’ in the second line should be read as ‘Would
have’).

The second stanza is exceedingly physical. Her hair or “raven tress” (9) Raven symbolism also includes references to mystical beauty,
hence the phrase “she is a raven haired beauty”. It is said that ravens have the ability to bring messages or knowledge from the
underworld. The message can be knowledge or even romance. Hence the raven colour always hints at mystical beauty. Here the woman’s
hair is shiny black. Byron associates it with the Raven to provide the mystical aura surrounding it. (7). Her hair is signified by the word
“tress” (9) and the perfect shade of her hair is signified by “raven” (9). Her hair flows in a manner of “nameless grace” (7), and it flows in
“waves” (9). Her sweetness is described as “soft” and light (10), and is “serenely” or calmly expressed. The sweetness describes a taste, of
which is “pure” and “dear” (12). In this manner, the flavor being described maybe her sexual self. This stanza erotically describes the
vaginal area of the woman, which includes her hair, her color, her feeling, and her sweetness, or stated in another manner, it may be
considered to be the totality of sexuality as it relates to womanhood. The “dwelling-place” is a place perhaps a man’s sexual organ would
like to dwell into for a period of time in something that looks much like a well. In this manner, he may put his sexual organ inside the
sexual organ of a woman, which may appear similar to a well.

Stanza 3

The thoughts in the woman’s head, behind that beautiful face, must be of how pure and dear she is. Her hair renders more beauty to her
face and her facial expressions are seen as having the quality of serene presecence. However, one could also take it as the expression of
the ultimate peaceful beauty. Unlike the day, the night is devoid of people, devoid of clouds, and quiet. It is when things rest. She is not
warped by her own beauty, and she exists in a world that is, to Byron, peaceful – her heart is innocent, her mind clear. Given his own
nature for troubled thoughts, The woman’s cheek and brow are now singled out for praise: soft and calm and yet also ‘eloquent’, as if the
woman’s beauty is so strong that it can almost be said to ‘speak’. Goodness and beauty often dwell together according to the poets, and
this woman is no different: she is calm and innocent. It’s as if these qualities not only go hand in hand with beauty, but help to inspire it
(one thinks of Roald Dahl’s famous passage about goodness and beauty here). Byron doesn’t let the woman speak: she is a mute object
of admiration. The closest we get to sensing her individual personality is when her thoughts are mentioned – and even then, the thoughts
are only (Byron assumes) of how pure and beautiful she is. it is interesting to see what Byron emphasizes as beautiful, though not at all
surprising given the rumours that followed him throughout his life.

There is also a sexual aspect to this. The third stanza is regarding the morning after when her cheeks and her “brow” (13), which are “so
soft, so calm, yet eloquent” (14), do glow. Her eyes, her hair, her face, and her smile are described as “tints that glow” (15). The morning
after a sexual encounter, tells of “days in goodness spent” (16), which means it is good to spend time having a sexual encounter, and in the
morning light, the woman glows. After such an encounter, “a mind” is at peace with all that lies “below” (17). Regarding this line―”heart
whose love is innocent” (18), does this mean if you do not have sexual encounters your love is not innocent? The words in line fifteen are
highlighted by the change in meter: “The smiles that win” (15), which indicates that after a sexual interlude the individuals both win with
satisfaction. Significantly, the poem ends with an expression of innocence rather than one of guilt, and it echoes a previous line: sexuality
is something that not even “Heaven” can deny (6). It may follow that the Byron intends the reader to accept sexuality as being something,
which is innocent.

This poem touches on the Romantics four core values; equality for the sexuality of a woman, where the imagination produces such a
guiltless attitude for sexuality. He defends his position by describing her walk, her eyes, her hair, her face, her sexual “dwelling-place” (12),
her cheeks and her brow, her smile and her teeth. In this manner, Lord Byron stirs the imagination, and presents a play of the mind in it’s
the simplicity and exaltation of sexuality. He stirs the mind of the reader through his beautiful description of his heartfelt desire for
sexuality. In this manner, he presents the woman and her sexuality as an individual. He defines her sexuality as beautiful, and presents
sexuality as self expression rather than conformity.In this poem, Lord Byron expresses his feelings for sexuality without religious
connotations of wickedness, but rather feeling of innocent euphoria. This poem is an argument for sexuality without the restrictions of
conformity. From this point of view, it is not hard to imagine why Lord Byron is attributed to having sexual encounters with more than one
thousand different women. Perhaps, this poem was part of his pick up line . . . a line of course of guiltless pleasure.