She Walks in Beauty

Lord George Gordon Byron, famously described as ‘mad, bad, and dangerous to know,’
authored a series of poems, such as ‘She Walks in Beauty,’ throughout his incredibly
adventurous life. The bad boy of the Romantic literary movement, Byron was exiled from
England mainly due to rumors about his escapades, one of which dogged him until the end
of his days – the fact that he had an affair with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and fathered a
child. After that, Byron left England and traveled to Italy and the Far East. He is best known
for the long narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan, which scholars
believe was partly based on his life.

‘She Walks in Beauty’ is one of his shorter but best-known poems and has been set to
music by Isaac Nathan as part of the Hebrew Melodies set. The poem is a wonderful
example of Romanticism. Readers may also be interested in pursuing the works of William
Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats as other examples of the Romantic
movement in English literature.

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron

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
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired 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!

Detailed Analysis
Stanza One

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
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

The speaker opens the poem with perhaps the two most famous lines that Byron has ever
written: 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. Right from the start, Byron
sets the tone of the poem with a comparison that seems almost divine – beauty like the
vast, starry night. Her beauty does not seem purely physical, either; instead, it is almost an
aura, a shield of beauty, unaware and almost innocent in its unawareness.

It is interesting to note that the poet compares his beloved’s beauty to night rather than
daylight – in fact, the day is considered gaudy, on behalf of the poet – because the tradition
for Romantic poetry was to compare one to nature, but to bright nature. The darkness of the
word ‘night’ seems to be a reference to the Greek ideal, the beauty that is so strong that it
could be almost catastrophic. Helen of Troy was one such beauty; this woman seems to be
another, a divine being whose sole purpose in the poem is a shift of chiaroscuro balance.

Stanza Two

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired 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.~

The poet goes on in the second stanza to compare and contrast different aspects of beauty:
her dark hair and her white face, which the light hits, seem to recall images of the Virgin
Mary. It is easier to make associations with the divine and the religious due to the poem’s
structure, that of a hymnal. There is also an emphasis – which would further strengthen the
images of religion – on innocence. The lady’s beauty is largely innocent, almost virginal,
and the poet cannot find a word that fully encompasses her beauty.

She reconciles dark and light together, appearing both glowing and also shrouded in
darkness. One could make the association that the darkness that surrounds her – given that
Byron met Mrs. Wilmont at a funeral – could be spiritual darkness and that her radiance was
further set off by the dim spirits at the funeral. However, one could also take it as the
expression of the ultimate peaceful beauty.

Stanza Three
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!

Unlike the day, the night is devoid of people, devoid of clouds, and quiet. It is when things
rest. She is not warped by her own beauty, and she exists in a world that is, to Byron,
peaceful – her heart is innocent, her mind clear. Given his own nature for troubled thoughts,
it is interesting to see what Byron emphasizes as beautiful, though not at all surprising given
the rumors that followed him throughout his life.

There is not much happening in the poem; it describes a few snatched moments of peace
and quiet and wonder. The woman is left unaware of the impression she has made on the
poet and continues, not knowing that she has become a symbol of beauty to someone
witnessing her presence.

Historical Background and Context

Lord George Gordon Byron was born on 22 January 1788 in Dover – though people also
believe that he might have been born in London. He was the son of Captain John ‘Mad
Jack’ Byron and his second wife, the heiress of an estate in Aberdeenshire. His first wife,
the Marchioness of Camarthen, was Augusta Leigh’s mother.

AS a leading figure of the Romantic movement – an attempt by writers and artists to dispel
the scientific, rational movement’s effects and bring back magic and wonder to a humanistic
world – Byron is regarded one of the greatest British poets one of most influential. Most of
his works are inspired, in fact, by his travels: his Grand Tour of Europe, which led him to
spend seven years in Italy, partially inspired Don Juan. He also fought in the Greek War of
Independence, where the Greeks considered a national hero.

He died at 36 after contracting a fever that turned into sepsis.

Who is Byron talking about in ‘She Walks in Beauty?’

Byron is talking about his cousin Mrs. Anne Beatrix Wilmont, who he saw on 11 June 1814.
She was attending a party in London.

What is the main idea of ‘She Walks in Beauty?’

The main idea is that perfect beauty and kindness can exist in one woman. Byron uses the
poem to celebrate that beauty and how he interpreted it in Anne Wilmont.
How does Lord Byron describe the woman in the poem ‘She Walks in Beauty?’
He describes her as beautiful on the inside and out. She is more inlight with darkness than
the gaudy light, he says. Her hair is dark, and her eyes are bright like shining stars.

When did Byron write ‘She Walks in Beauty?’

He wrote this poem in 1814. It has since become one of his most popular poems. It is also
one of his shortest in only three stanzas.

Why does Byron use so many contrasts in She Walks in Beauty?

He uses numerous contrasts, like comparing her bright eyes to her dark hair, in order to
celebrate how multifaceted this woman is. She is a perfect balance, he implies, between
day and night.