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And Repence In Lord Byron's 'She Walks In Beauty'

Decent Essays

In “She Walks in Beauty”, George Gordon (Lord Byron) was writing about a beautiful woman. In the poem, Byron used a lot of flowery words to emphasis her beauty and her innocence. Examples of lines referencing her beauty include “Which waves in every raven tress, / Or softly lightens o’er her face”, which describes how her black hair brushes against her face (Gordon, “She Walks” lines 9-10). Byron speaks of her innocence in the last line, “A heart whose love is innocent!” (18). This poem appears to be written for the reader; the wording chosen to convey not what the poet is feeling, but rather what he thinks the readers expected. The words look as if they were selected so that they fit into a specific pattern; in this poem the even numbered lines of each stanza rhyme, as do the odd numbered lines. In the poem “When We Two Parted,” Lord Bryon used a similar style as in the first poem; even and odd rows rhyme; a set-up intended to be pleasant to the reader ear. The difference is that the poem appears to have a hidden meaning, one that was meant only for Lord Byron and a secret lover. The sense of the poem seems more heart felt. When Lord Byron wrote “When We Two Parted,” he may have had a young man or a married lover in mind, a relationship that the general public would not have approved of. The lines “ They know not I knew thee, / Who knew thee too well” implies that their secret was safe (Gordon, “When We” 21-22). Whereas the lines “In secret we met— / In silence I

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