COMPARISON OF THIS TWO POEMS

Author: Lord Byron
Title of the poems: She walks in beauty; When we two parted.
Dates of publication: 1999; 1996

I have decided to compare this two poems because they treat about a similar but at the same time different theme.

The titles of both poems are very clear because in “she walks in beauty” you can clearly presuppose that it is going to talk about a pretty woman ,and in “when we two parted“ you can clearly presuppose that it is going to talk about the separation of two persons who are or were in love.

If we make a first reading of this two poems we can observe that both are very clear and easy to understand and we can observe too that one of this poems talks about happy things “she walks in beauty” and the other one “when we two parted” talks about sad things.

The subject of both poems is the same that is love but one of them talks about a sad story of love (when we two parted) and the other one talks about a happy story of love (she walks in beauty).

The theme of this two poems is very different because in one of them (she walks in beauty) the author makes a very objective description of the woman that she loves and in the other one (when we two parted), he talks about a man and a woman that have broken up and this man is very sad and tells us the story in a melancholic way.

In this two poems there aren’t any hidden structures because and I think that this two poems are very clear and with hidden structures it would be more difficult to understand them.

I think that the point of view of the author is very different in each poem because in one of them (she walks in beauty) the author is in love and he thinks that love only has advantages and in the other one ( when we two parted) somebody has broken author’s heart and he thinks that love only has disadvantages.

Any of this poems has ironic expressions because both are talking about a serious theme.

In which refers to structure and form this two poems are very different because:

-Walks in beauty is composed by three paragraphs and each of this paragraphs is formed by six verses so the poem has 18 verses and when we two parted is composed by four paragraphs and each of this paragraph is formed by eight verses so the poem has 32 verses. Having analysed this we can observe that “when we two parted” is longer than “she walks in beauty”

-If we take a paragraph of “she walks in beauty” we can observe that all the verses have 8 syllables and if we take a paragraph of “when we two parted” we can observe that all the verses have six syllables. Having analysed this we can observe that “she walks in beauty” has longer verses than “when we two parted” and we can observe too that that “she walks in beauty” has the same number of syllables in each verse and “when we too parted” has the same number of syllables in each verse too.




-If we pay attention to the rhyme of the poems we can observe that in “she walks in beauty” pair verses rhyme and impair verses rhyme too so his metric structure is A-B-A-B-A-B, and in “when we two parted” rhyme:

-the first and the third verses.

-the second and the fourth verses.

-the fifth and the seventh verses.

-the sixth and the eighth verses.

So the metric structure of this poem is a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d.

I have enjoyed a lot reading this two poems because both talk about a very interesting and beautiful theme that is love and both are very easy to understand but if I have to choose my favourite one I choose without any doubts “she walks in beauty) because this poem is very happy and describes a very beautiful situation that is when somebody is in love and when I read this poem very good feelings come to my mind, “when we two parted is a very good poem too but I haven’t enjoyed a lot reading it because I think that it is very sad and when I read it I feel very sad, other thing that I don’t like about this poem is that when this two lovers broken up they stop talking each other and I think that if you have been in love of a person and they broke their relationship they must be very good friends.


SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY

HE 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 mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd 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!


(http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/169.html)


WHEN WE TWO PARTED
by: George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824)
HEN we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow--
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me--
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Lond, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

I secret we met--
I silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.


(http://www.potw.org/archive/potw40.html)