SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY: Lord Byron (George Gordon)

BACKGROUND OF THE POET

George Gordon Byron was one of the most influential and prominent Romantic poets in early

19th century England. He was born on 22 nd January, 1788 in London into an aristocratic family.

At an early age of ten, he inherited the family title, “Baron” (A member of the aristocracy, born

into power and wealth). He became known as Baron (Lord) George Gordon Byron or Lord

Byron for short. He is well known for his long narrative poems, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and

Don Juan.

Despite being a great poet and well known for his works, he was also notoriously recognized for

his sexual escapades, extravagant living, numerous love affairs and allegations of incest and

sodomy. He was therefore described by Lady Caroline Lamb, an aristocrat and a novelist who

had an affair with Lord Byron, as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”. Byron died on 19th April,

1824 at the age of 36 in Greece after suffering from fever.

BACKGROUND OF THE POEM

In fact, Byron’s poem immediately strikes readers as a love poem since it almost looks as if he is

exalting the beauty of his lover. However, some scholars hold the view that he wrote the poem

merely out of a sense of aesthetic appreciation since he was a romantic poet and for that matter,

would have been obviously obsessed with beauty and nature. It is believed that the poem was

inspired by the wife of Byron’s cousin, Anne Wilmot, during a party in 1814. Overwhelmed by

her appearance and beauty that night, Byron wrote this poem the next day.
SUMMARY OF THE POEM

Written in iambic tetrameter, She Walks in Beauty (1814) is a lyrical poem.

NB: A lyrical poem is a short poem with a songlike quality that allows the persona to express

his/her emotions towards another character in the poem.

Byron’s poem explores, appreciates and celebrates the beauty, purity and innocence of a woman.

The poet portrays the woman’s beauty as one that is harmonious and perfect. Even though the

poet is awestruck by the inner beauty and perfection of the woman, he doesn’t lose sight of her

outer beauty as well. From this poem, we realize that perfect and seamless beauty stems from an

amalgamation of inner purity and outer beauty.

ANALYSIS OF THE PEOM

Stanza 1

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.

This stanza opens with the persona describing the inner beauty of an anonymous woman. In the

first line which contains the tittle of poem, the persona through the use of simile and Kinesthetic

imagery, compares the beauty of a woman to a night sky devoid of clouds but adorned with stars.

This only communicates the woman’s captivating beauty. It is not surprising that the poet in the

title of the poem describes her as one who walks in beauty. This does not suggest that the woman

actually walks in beauty but depicts how beauty surrounds her and makes her flawless and

untainted.
The identity of this woman remains vague in stanza 1 and beyond as a result of the poet’s

constant use of the personal pronouns “she/her” without revealing her actual identity. In Lines 3

and 4, the poet employs juxtaposition (a contrast between two opposites) to reinforce the

woman’s beauty. By using the opposite words “dark” and “bright” to describe her beauty, the

poet only shows how the beauty of this woman is balanced and perfect. Her aspect (face) and

eyes manifest all that is good of the dark and bright.

Stanza 2

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.

In this stanza, the persona continues to worship the beauty of the woman. Here, he begins by

describing the preciseness and accurateness of her beauty. The persona reveals in Lines 1 and 2

of this stanza that the woman’s beauty which he metaphorically describes as “nameless grace”

would have been tainted if it had been a little darker than it is (one shade the more) and a little

less brighter than it is (one ray the less). This implies that her beauty constitutes just the right

amount of darkness and brightness (one shade the more, one ray the less). By modifying “grace”

with the adjective “nameless”, the persona is suggesting that the woman’s beauty is great and

priceless that no single name can suffice. From Line 3, the poet begins to connect the woman’s

inner purity to her outer beauty by claiming that her beauty or “nameless grace” is visible in

every lock of her black hair (raven tress) that lightens her face.
NB: A raven is a black bird that is used often to represent something that is dark or black in

color. Tress means a lock of a woman’s hair.

In Lines 5 and 6 of this stanza, the poet continues to describe the woman’s outer beauty based on

her inner purity. According to the persona, the woman’s face is a place where the thoughts of her

mind are serenely and sweetly expressed. This depicts how beautiful her face is. Employing

metaphor and personification (thoughts compared to dwellers of a place and face compared to a

home or dwelling-place), the poet considers her face (the dwelling place of those serenely sweet

thoughts) as pure and dear.

Stanza 3

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!

The description of the woman’s outer beauty continues in this stanza. According to the persona,

the woman’s smile that manifests on her cheeks and brow are serene, calm and eloquent. In the

first four lines of this stanza, the poet employs personification (the smiles that win) and paradox

(the tints that glow) to describe her looks. The rest of the lines in this poem talks about the

goodness, kindness and innocence of the woman. This suggests that the woman doesn’t merely

possess a beautiful face but a beautiful heart. The last line of this stanza and the entire poem, is

very significant because of the exclamation sign (!) at the end that makes it an exclamatory

sentence (a type of sentence that expresses strong emotions). This punctuation sign tends to
summarize the impact of woman’s beauty on the persona. He is captivated, overwhelmed and

enthralled by her beauty to the extent that he just cannot help but exclaim.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

“She Walks in Beauty” is a three-stanza poem with each stanza containing six lines. This poetic

form is often seen in religious hymns that are associated with simplicity, purity, adoration and

worship directed to a deity.

The poet employs a rhyme scheme of ABABAB, CDCDCD, EFEFEF. This gives the poem a

musical effect and makes it appealing and beautiful to readers just as the beauty of the woman

described in the poem.

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. Each line of the poem contains four sets of two beats.

The first of the two beats is an unstressed syllable and the second is a stressed syllable.

THEMES

 Internal and external purity is the ideal form of beauty (inner beauty must reinforce outer

beauty and vice versa)

 Innocence

 Admiration of inner and outer beauty

LITERARY DEVICES

 Personification:

Lines 11 - 12: Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear, their dwelling place.
Lines 17 - 18: A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
In lines 17, “the mind” is made to look like a living being who is at peace with another. In line

18, “the heart” is presented as someone who is capable of loving another.

Lines 15 – 16: The smile that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
In the above lines, the woman’s smile is given the human quality of telling of days in goodness

spent.

 Metaphor

Line 8: Had half impaired the nameless grace

In the above line, the poet indirectly compares the woman’s beauty to “nameless grace”.

Lines 10-12: Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear, their dwelling-place.
In the above lines, thoughts are compared to people or dwellers and the woman’s face is

compared to a dwelling place.

 Simile

Line 1-2: She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry stares.
The poet compares the beauty of the woman to a clear bright night.

 Sibilance: a device that stresses consonant sounds. Pay attention to the “s” sounds in the

lines below:

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,

This adds to the musical effect of the poem.