Analysis of She Walks in Beauty Poem by Lord Byron

“Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.” Manifested in music, and literature, beauty was very prominent in relation to humans and nature, 19th century poets were influenced and inspired by the romantic movements. By using the surrounding environment, poets had the ability to develop and explore the relationships between the beauty of nature, and the beauty of whom they admire. Lord Byron’s use of effective poetic techniques and emotive language throughout “She Walks in Beauty”, using primarily allusion, personification and similes to develop and achieve a strong emotional response from his audience.

Published in 1813, Byron constructed his poem by investigating themes of innocent love and representing them through a contrast of light and dark aspects of nature. Using the surrounding environment, his poem develops relationships between the beauty of nature, and the beauty and love of the woman he admires. Byron was an 19th century English nobleman, poet and leading figure of the romanticism movements. The romantic period, was intellectual and artistic movement that occurred very early in the 1800’s. The movement created interests and influenced strong emotions, imaginations and freedom, rejecting the ideas of order, idealisation and rationalism, that was often typified by the 18th century Neoclassic views. The romanticism period showed a developed and deepened the public’s appreciation of the beauties of nature and saw an exaltation of emotion over intellect. It showed a deeper examination of the human’s personality and moods, primarily towards romantic emotions. The most notable feature of the poetry of the 19th century romantic period was the new role of individual thought and personal feeling. Byron’s views throughout the Romantic Movement, influenced the development and use of language throughout “She Walks in Beauty”, achieving a strong emotional response from his audience.

Literary Analysis of "She Walks in Beauty" Poem

“She Walks in Beauty”, is a poem about a woman, admired by Lord Byron, whom remains unnamed. Although anonymous, it is said, that the poem was inspired by the Lady Anne Wilmont, wife of his cousin. The poem idolises the features of the woman, presumed to be a lady of darker features, consistently contrasted to the light and dark features of nature. The tone of the poem is very romantic, soft and calm, representing a type of admiration of the woman’s pure beauty. The tone and mood of the poem help Byron to express his admiration of the woman towards the audience. Due to only knowing the a vague description of the woman, the atmosphere of the poem is perceived as quiet mysterious, inhibiting a greater curiosity for the woman’s identity. The setting of the poem was never made explicit, but as to the opening lines, ‘night’ and ‘starry skies’ indicating the poem is expressed in a dark night setting.

The meaning of ‘She Walks in Beauty’ was for Lord Byron to express the beauty of the woman. The lady is undoubtedly admired by Byron, whom closely examines and focusses on the finer details of her beauty and puts them into contrast the beauties of nature. Beauty is the main theme amongst Byron’s poem. For Lord Byron, beauty throughout the poem is in many forms, including the ‘tender light’ of the woman’s glowing features, the eloquence of her speech and the purity of her love. Her inner beauty enhances her outer beauty, making her a perfect woman from his perspective. By using human features and natures features, as well as the contrast of light and dark, Byron’s purpose was to create a descriptive, poetic piece idolising beauty.

Throughout the poem, Byron uses many similes and metaphors, as well as the use of personification, alliteration and allusion to develop and achieve the strong emotional response from his audience. Primarily, this is all done in as a method of comparison, contrasting between human and nature’s features. Starting the poem, Byron immediately compares the woman’s walk of beauty to the night of cloudless climes and starry skies. These first two lines set up the idea of the theme and setting of the poem, beauty and night. Generally, a comparison of night, would indicate something of dark aspects. Byron has stated that the woman is compared to a night sky, in a place of no clouds and many stars. This could indicate that Byron saw her as someone with a very clear and beautiful complexion. Byron has also introduced his theme of light and dark, adding the starry skies as a brightness to a dark night. Continuing in line 3 through 6, the contrast of light and dark has been repeated and developed. Byron has developed a sense of everything light and dark being beautiful. Indicating that she has both, Byron has focussed his attention towards the woman’s eyes. His perception of her appearance, has created a harmony between ‘dark’ and ‘light’ features. Ultimately, Byron has created a clear difference between ‘light’ and ‘dark’, but neither is considered better nor worse.

Conclusion

‘One shade the more, one ray the less, had half impair the nameless grace’. This balance between shade and ray of light, gives an example of the woman’s perfect purity. From this comparison, Byron indicates, that if one were to adjust the balance at all, would “half impair,” or partially damage, the woman’s beauty. Lines 9 and 10 again have the contrast of light and dark features of the woman’s beauty. As the ‘nameless grace’ of beauty is in every lock of black raven tress hair, as it lightens her face. Lines 11 and 12 purely focus on the beauty of the woman. The sweetness of her expression, suggesting her mine is innocent and pure, as well as the word ‘dear’ in this context, meaning both precious and valuable.

Works Cited

1. Byron, G.G. (1813). "She Walks in Beauty." Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43842/she-walks-in-beauty
2. Byron, G.G. (2015). "She Walks in Beauty." In The Norton Anthology of English Literature (10th ed., Vol. D, pp. 330-331). W.W. Norton & Company.
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