SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY
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
5
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
On shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightness o’er her face;
10
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,
15
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
Introduction:
In this first paper, we are going to
focus on the poem placed above, called “she walks in beauty”, by George Gordon,
“Lord Byron” (1788-1824), one of the most important poets from the generation
of “Romantics”.
We will analyse the poem at
different levels, from the surface to a deeper level, paying attention not only
in the features concerning the poem, but also in the background surrounding the
text, and establishing a relation between the poem itself and the author’s
direct involvement with it.
Analysis:
First of all, we will talk about all
those things we can see on the surface, referring to concepts such as rhyme,
rhythm and the meter of the poem.
The poem is divided into 3 stanzas
in which the rhyme is established as follows:
1st Stanza: It consists
of six lines where the rhyme follows the next rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b-a-b; and
with a tail rhyme: rhyme in the final syllable(s) of a verse.
We must add the presence of an
“enjambment” at the end of the first line, which means that “continues without
pause onto the second line”; this kind of resource could produce any kind of
confusion on the reader as this tends to not stop when he/she is reading.
Besides, in the third and fourth
lines it is produced a “metrical substitution”. “The fourth line starts with an
accented syllable followed by an unaccented one, rather than the iambic meter
of the other lines, an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one”. This
way, “meet” creates an effect of special attention on the reader, who focuses
his/her attention on this word: “And all that’s best of dark and bright MEET in
her aspect and her eyes”. Eventually, we want to highlight the presence of
“alliteration” in the second line “of cloudless climes and starry
skies”: the first letters of these words are repeated, so we can “get an
easy-reading effect”.
Regarding the other 2 stanzas, from
lines 7 to 18, it is followed nearly the same pattern:
There are six lines where the rhyme
follows respectively this rhyme scheme: c-d-c-d-c-d (second stanza);
e-f-e-f-e-f. (third stanza). To sum up, we want to comment on the last line of
the third stanza where there is a sign of exclamation, as a means used by the
author in order to call the reader’s attention. The tail rhyme is used as well
along the whole poem, except in the last words of the line 14 (eloquent) and 18
(innocent).
Based on the ideas of:
(http://ezinearticles.com/?She-Walks-In-Beauty,-A-Discussion-of-the-Poem-by-Lord-Byron&id=80761)
(http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm).
As regards the analysis of the poem
from another perspective, we will focus now on the meaning of the poem, and the
symbolisms which appear in our mind as a result of a conscious reading of the
text.
First of all, we must take into
account some important data which will introduce us through the analysis and
commentary of this poetic text.
“She walks in beauty” was written by
Lord Byron in 1814, although the poem was not published until 1815, when he
married his first wife, Annabella Millbanke. Lord Byron “attended at a party at
Lady Sitwell’s” in June, and there he saw, for the first time, his young cousin
Anne Wilmot Horton, who was wearing a “black spangled mourning dress”. The poet
was astonished “by his cousin’s dark hair and fair face” where there was like a
kind of mixture of “lights and shades”. The lines for this poem were written
the next day of the party, after Byron would spend long night thinking about
the precious girl he had had the chance to meet.
Contributed by:
(http://ezinearticles.com/?She-Walks-In-Beauty,-A-Discussion-of-the-Poem-by-Lord-Byron&id=80761).
We must pay special attention to the
fact that Lord Byron writes the poem in third person, by way of proof, we can
make reference to some pronouns like “she “ line 1, or “her" line 4; as a
consequence it is produced a distancing effect on the reader, who knows that in
spite of the main character in the poem is the poet’s cousin, the author
portraits her as a beautiful girl who met at a nocturnal party, and whose
elegance and lightness left him breathless.
So the meaning of the poem has its
connotations in love, that is to say, this is a love poem (as we could
understand nowadays), Lord Byron describes the beauty of his young cousin in an
open way. Nevertheless, we can find along the poem several references not only
to his physical beauty, but also to some “spiritual beauty” which is within
her.
Meaning of the Poem:
We will talk about the meaning of
the poem through the different stanzas and lines which the poem is built up
with.
Lord Byron starts the poem
establishing a clear distinction between opposing terms: “darkness” which is
related to night, and “lightness” or “brightness” associated to the second line
“of cloudless climes and starry skies”. Through this first couple, the author
argues that both qualities are put together in the beautiful girl she wants to
describe.
In addition, the third and four
lines introduce us through the main important topic of the poem: “And all
that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes:” with these two
lines Lord Byron gives us to understand that her beauty goes beyond the
material world and her physical appearance, because “the eyes are very often
associated with a person’s soul” so this means that her beauty is also inside
the girl’s soul.
The last lines of the first stanza
refer as well to that quality, “that tender light which heaven to gaudy day
denies”, the poet uses the word heaven, with sacred connotations.
In the second stanza, the author
writes about the right proportions of beauty (lines 7 and 8), this means that
the face of the girl is “nearly perfect” so there is nothing which must be
included or taken away from her face. In line 9 and 10 we can find the words
“raven trees” which make reference again to that “darkness”, and the verb
“lightens”, used as a contradictory term.
With the last lines of this stanza,
the author tries to explain how “her inner beauty is mirrored by her outer
beauty”: She is beauty, both physically and spiritually.
Eventually, the last stanza is
divided into two parts: the first three lines, where it is offered to us a
“physical description” of the beauty of the young girl, and the last lines
(from lines 16 to 18) which refer to that “purity”, that “innocence” which
coexists with that “outer beauty”.
The source for the analysis is:
(http://ezinearticles.com/?She-Walks-In-Beauty,-A-Discussion-of-the-Poem-by-Lord-Byron&id=80761)
(http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm).
Complete works, reference to poet’s life:
After the analysis of the poem
concerning its meaning, we will put the poem in relation with the rest of the
poet’s poetic production.
“She walks in beauty” was written in
1814, before he married Anne Isabella Millbanke, and published in 1815, after
they got married.
The poem occupies a middle-position
in the overall production of Lord Byron’s poetry. From his first work “Hours of
Idleness” (1806) to some of his most famous epic poems “The Prisoner of
Chillon” (1816) and “Don Juan” (1819-1824). George Gordon Lord Byron has, in
spite of his short but intensive life, a large amount of poems and works, among
which we can make reference to some of the most important, like: “English Bards
and Scotch Reviewers (1809), “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage “(1812-1816), “The
Bride of Abydos (1813), “the Corsair” (1814), “Darkness” (1816), “The Vision of
Judgement” (1821)…
But among all of them, “She walks in
beauty” it is placed at a very interesting point, a moment of Lord Byron’s life
when he was looking for some kind of peace and tranquillity in his life.
The author had a short but intensive
life, full of polemic affairs with ladies and married woman, so it is not
strange that he wrote this poem, where he describes the beauty of his young
cousin, Anne Wilmot. But we must take into consideration that the poem is
written just one year before he married Anne Isabella Millbanke, at this time,
the author is not only describing a physical beauty, but an spiritual one too.
That is to say, through this poem we can appreciate how the author wants to
give a new meaning to his life, although later on he gets divorced his wife and
is involved in a terrible scandal which obliges him to leave
Opinion:
We have analysed “She walks in
beauty” at different levels, and we could appreciate how, if we get into the
real meaning of the poem, it has both physical and spiritual connotations, a
fact that tell us about the allegorical context in which the poet is writing
this text. What I like most of this poem is not only its straightforward, but
at the same time, ambiguous meaning, but also that it is a poem which has survived
the pass of time, a poem that is “Romantic”, as it corresponds to that period,
but also “romantic” if we refer to a fair love story, as the concept is partly
understand nowadays.
Bibliography:
-“She Walks in Beauty”, a discussion of the poem by Lord Byron:
http://ezinearticles.com/?She-Walks-In-Beauty,-A-Discussion-of-the-Poem-by-Lord-Byron&id=80761.
-CCP-“She walks in beauty- by Lord Byron:
http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm.
-She walks in beauty, Wikipedia-the free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Walks_in_Beauty.
-Aula virtual, Byronism:
-Aula
virtual, Poetas Románticos, Lord Byron:
-BBC-Arts Romantics:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/
Books:
“A choice of Byron’s verse”, by
Douglas Dunn. First published in 1974, by Faber and Faber limited. Reprinted
1979 and 1983. Printed in
“Byron”, a critical edition of the
major works. First published as an Oxford University Press paperback 1986.
Printed in