Analysis of Lord Byron's 'She Walks in Beauty'

     “She Walks in Beauty” starts off from a traditional picture of a lady as fair and bright. It links with the brightness of daylight, in its comparison of the mistress to the night. “The distinctive quality of the poem derives not from any departure from the norm but from a graceful elaboration of the conventions of compliment” (Seifter, 82). Avoiding unoriginal or obvious similies, Byron uses metaphors which expresses the idea of a quiet and slight glow. “The mistress like the night/ Of cloudless climes and starry skies” (ll 1-2), not pitch dark but glimmering with a diffused light” (Seifter, 82). She is like a portrait in “chiaroscuro”, her face is copied through an interaction of light and shadow.

George Gordon, Lord Byron, born in 1788 and died in 1824, was a known author and supporter of the English Romantics. Lord Byron has many pieces of work that have been studied throughout history but none as infamous as his poem titled “Prometheus”. To truly understand “Prometheus” one must first understand the author. Byron’s interpretation of Prometheus is highly reflective of his involvement and support of Romanticism. Romanticism can be defined as an intellectual and cultural reaction to the Enlightenment; without the Enlightenment there would be no Romanticism. English Romantics, such as Lord Byron, were men of action, solitude and imagination. Romantics viewed the individual as isolated from the rest of man. The idea of the “citizen”

The Romantic Period centered on creative imagination, nature, mythology, symbolism, feelings and intuition, freedom from laws, impulsiveness, simplistic language, personal experiences, democracy, and liberty, significant in various art forms including poetry. The development of the self and self-awareness became a major theme as the Romantic Period was seen as an unpredictable release of artistic energy, new found confidence, and creative power found in the writings of the Romantic poets Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Shelley, who made a substantial impact on the world of poetry. Two of the Romantic poets, William Blake, and Percy Bysshe Shelley rebelled against convention and authority in search of personal, political and artistic freedom. Blake and Shelley attempted to liberate the subjugated people through the contrary state of human existence prevalent throughout their writings, including Blake’s “The Chimney Sweepers,” from “Songs of Innocence”, “London,” from “Songs of Experience” and Shelley’s A Song: “Men of England.”

Lord Byron, a romantic author from the 18th century was a man who was considered as a “player”, a man who was always with multiple women. In his lifetime Byron wrote many stories, three of those stories were, She Walks In Beauty, Apostrophe To The Ocean, and Don Juan. In those three stories Lord Byron indicates very important messages for each.

Lord Byron’s “Darkness” illustrates a dark and pessimistic outlook for the world as we know it. The world loses all sense of hope and is left with only despair and darkness after the loss of the provider of thought and hope-sunlight. With the extinction of sunlight comes the destruction of social classes due to inevitable fear of death, and, as a result, all that is left is chaos. The psychological mind drastically changes its mannerisms and mode of thinking when faced with life and death situations.

Born in 1788, George Gordon Byron, commonly known as Lord Byron, was an English poet and one of the most famous poets of the romantic era. Romanticism was one of the most influential poetic movements in which brought Lord Byron into the literary forefront. Although he has many famous literary works, She Walks in Beauty is one of his most favourable poems. The poem was inspired by a woman wearing a mourningful dress whilst at a ball. Love is the overarching theme, focusing mainly on captivating love. This is seen by the overwhelming sense of his attention that is captivated by her and the fact that the woman seems unobtainable. Through his work, Lord Byron captured the reader's attention through the way he used literary devices and the way he represented different gender representations through the nature of love.

Lord Byron’s works, such as Don Juan and other poems reflect not only the suave and charming characteristics of the Romantic Period, but they also reveal the nature of Byron’s uncommitted and scandalous life. Byron, like most Romantic era authors, was very unpredictable and opinionated in all of his writings. From the hatred of his upbringing, to the love of adventure, and also to the love of meaningless relationships with various women were majorly influenced and illustrated through all of his works and especially in “Don Juan.” Yet he still managed to infiltrate his poems with charm, romance, and heroism. Byron was a perfect fit for the Romantic Period and his poems and he was therefore known as a great contributor towards the era.

The second stanza of Lord Byron's poem focuses on the woman's perfect face. The beautiful shades and rays of the womans complexion make her a “nameless grace” (2, 2). This conveys the idea that her inner beauty is reflected in her outer beauty in the sense that she is pure and innocent on the inside so she radiates that beauty on the outside. This stanza reveals her serene thoughts:

Byron's diction in this poem is quite metaphorical. "She walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies" (lines 1-2 Norton 556). His use of imagery has allowed us to visualize an aura that surrounds this woman. The imagery he uses also brings together two opposing forces, darkness and light which works quite well together as one united force. We can visualize a dark sky filled bright stars, a perfect picture for an ideal evening, which can be compared to his picture of a perfect woman.

Two closely related texts, one that we've studied in this class and one that we haven't, that handle natural description differently are Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Lord Byron's "Manfred." Both of these texts' central characters have experienced trauma, and their portrayal of their environments reveal the effects that the events have left on them. While Coleridge's mariner is unable to consolidate his past and is relegated to constantly relive it, Byron's Manfred has protected himself from his unnamed vice by distancing himself from his feelings and environment. Obvious parallels exist between the poems, but what I found most striking

he joined the armed forces and wrote several of his lesser known poems. They all included a romantic theme which could be a result of being isolated from the opposite sex. The general subject or goal of the Romantic era was to compare the beauty of nature to an everyday object or person and to create a snapshot of the scene being described. “[Romanticism] Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature, prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication, and contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development,” (Langley 2-5) The importance of the comparison between the river is huge in this poem because the way the river is described as a “bright, clear flow”. It shows that this river in particular is special. The majority of rivers are muddy and murky which suggests that the maiden has a sense of purity about her.

Although these poems have conflicting themes, they mutually share an appreciation of nature, specifically the night. In "She Walks in Beauty," the speaker is associating the qualities of a woman to the qualities of a night sky. This simile is introduced instantly in the first line, "She walks in beauty like the night." By doing so, Byron alludes to the comparisons that occur during the remainder of the poem. This leaves the reader wondering how the woman can compare to the night and forces him/her to continue reading. "So We'll Go No More A-Roving" also has the night play a key visual aspect. Byron begins and ends the poem by speaking of the bright moon.

The poem ?She Walks in Beauty? came by as an inspiration to the author. This

She Walks in Beauty is a poem by Lord Byron. Byron was an English poet who spearheaded the second generation of Romantic Poets. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest English poets. This

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries the style of poetry changed drastically. Poets shifted their focus away from the audience and concentrated on the internal self. This created the expressive, lyric poetry we now recognize as typical of Romanticism. William Wordsworth is one of the most famous of the Romantics, as well as author of "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free." Written in 1807 after a trip to France to visit his daughter, "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free" focuses on Wordsworth's view of nature and childhood as essentially divine.