An Analysis of George Gordon Noel Byron's poem She Walks in Beauty

965 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Explanation of how she walks in beauty

An Analysis of George Gordon Noel Byron's poem She Walks in Beauty

George Gordon Noel Byron's poem titled, "She Walks in Beauty," is a love poem about a beautiful woman and all of her features. The poem follows a basic iambic tetrameter with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable that allows for a rhythm to be set by the reader and can be clearly seen when one looks at a line:

She walks / in beau / ty like / the night.

T.S. Eliot, an American poet criticizes Byron's work by stating the poem, "needs to be read very rapidly because if one slows down the poetry vanishes and the rhyme is forced" (Eliot 224). With this rhythm the reader can, however, look deeper into the contents of Byron's poem and discover a battle of two forces. The two forces involved in Byron's poem are the darkness and light- at work in the woman's beauty, and also the two areas of her beauty-the internal and the external. The poem appears to be about a lover, but in fact was written about "Byron's cousin, Anne Wilmot, whom he met at a party in a mourning dress of spangled black" (Leung 312). This fact, the black dress that was brightened with spangles, helps the reader to understand the origin of the poem. Byron portrays this, the mixing of the darkness and the light, not by describing the dress or the woman's actions, but by describing her physical beauty as well as her interior strengths. In the beginning of the poem, the reader is given the image of darkness: "She walks in beaut...

... middle of paper ...

...the reader to decipher"(25). Without the two forces and the struggle within this woman, Byron's poem would have been a plain love poem, but because the forces are so pronounced by his use of colorful language, rhythm, and use of human characteristics, "She Walks in Beauty" is world renowned for its powerful description. Not only does it describe a woman's physical beauty, but also her interior strengths.

Works Cited

Eliot, T.S., "Byron," in On Poetry and Poets, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1957, p.224.

Martin, L.C., in Byron's Lyrics, The University of Nottingham, 1948, pp. 24-25.

Leung, Mathew, preface to Poetry of Byron, by Lord Byron, Macmillian, 1881, Reprinted as "Byron, "in Essays in Criticism, Dutton, 1964, pp. 312-30.

Show More
Related

  • The Lady in the Pink Mustang

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    The readers are apt to feel confused in the contrasting ways the woman in this poem has been depicted. The lady described in the poem leads to contrasting lives during the day and night. She is a normal girl in her Cadillac in the day while in her pink Mustang she is a prostitute driving on highways in the night. In the poem the imagery of body recurs frequently as “moving in the dust” and “every time she is touched”. The reference to woman’s body could possibly be the metaphor for the derogatory ways women’s labor, especially the physical labor is represented. The contrast between day and night possibly highlights the two contrasting ways the women are represented in society.

    Read More

  • Stoppards presentation of Thomasina in Arcadia

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... “Lord Byron was with a lady” “huh”. She also shows her interest in fashionable things such as waltzes, which are a sign of maturity and that she is growing into a woman.

    Read More

  • Furman v. Georgia

    2725 Words  | 6 Pages

    Furman v. Georgia was a landmark case in the annals of American Law because it was the first time the Supreme Court turned to the controversial question of capital punishment. Capital punishment has always been a hotly debated issue in the United States. When this issue is coupled with the issue of racial discrimination, the matter becomes hotter than ever. And this is precisely what Furman v. Georgia was all about: a black man convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

    Read More

  • The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon,

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harris, Laurie Lanzen. “George Gordon (Noel) Byron, Lord Byron.” Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticism. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1982. Print.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Themes of Love in Lord Byron's “She Walks in Beauty” and Keats' Poem, “La Belle Dame sans Merci”

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although these poems are both centered around the theme of love, they each contain a different meaning. Lord Byron's “She Walks in Beauty” is dedicated to conveying love through the use of metaphors. Keats' poem, “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” on the other hand, tells a story about how love can be deceiving. Despite their differences, these poems have similarities as well. They each have three parts that progress a story along through the use of literary techniques. Each poem was also written in the early 1800's. These poems both implicate the reader to make a connection to everyday life by relating possible experiences of love.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In She Walks In Beauty

    248 Words  | 1 Pages

    The title She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron, the author uses similes and imagery to create a focus and mood that shows the theme that a woman can be beautiful even with her darker qualities.. The poem is about a man describing the beauty of a woman. He is not saying the way she walks is beautiful but, everything she does is beautiful. The figurative language in this poem includes a simile in the first line, “ She walks in beauty, like the night” (Byron 1) to give readers an idea of her beauty. The author explains darkness and brightness and contrasts the two, often repeated throughout the poem, “And all that’s best of dark and bright, Meet in her aspect and her eyes” (Byron 3-4). The connection with dark and bright

    Read More

  • Love in The Old Maid by Sara Teasdale

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    In order to completely grasp exactly how the old maid appears to the woman on the sidewalk and the love she feels for the man walking with her, Sara Teasdale uses personification to describe the characters in the poem. One would be, “Her soul was frozen in the dark/ Unwarmed forever by love’s flame.” Obviously, a person’s soul cannot be frozen, but the meaning is that the old maid had never felt a heated intensity between herself and someone special to her which could give her a cold outlook on life. Another time the poet uses personification is when the speaker states, “His eyes were magic to defy”. Eyes cannot be magic. By saying that his eyes were magic the reader can get the notion that when the speaker looks into the eyes of her lover she feels awed, happy, or even entranced. Sara Teasdale also uses a metaphor in her work, “Her body was a thing growing thin,” In that line the speaker is comparing the old maid’s draining body to something that can get thinner. The poet uses a rhyme scheme of rhyming the second with the fourth line and there are four lines in every stanza. Finally, in this narrative poem there are eight syllables per line of the poem.

    Read More

  • The Sleeper Literary Analysis Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first literary device that can be found throughout the poem is couplet, which is when two lines in a stanza rhyme successfully. For instance, lines 1-2 state, “At midnight, in the month of June / I stand beneath the mystic moon.” This is evidence that couplet is being used as both June and moon rhyme, which can suggest that these details are important, thus leading the reader to become aware of the speaker’s thoughts and actions. Another example of this device can be found in lines 16-17, “All Beauty sleeps!—and lo! where lies / (Her casement open to the skies).” These lines not only successfully rhyme, but they also describe a woman who

    Read More

  • Indiana Graduated Drivers License

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for American teenagers, accounting for about a third of all deaths in that age group” (Crisp). In actual numbers, motor vehicle crashes kill more than 5,000 teenagers every year (Gregory). These statistics are frightening and have led more than 50 percent of adults to support higher required ages for drivers’ licenses (Gregory). Teenagers, though, say this would be unfair and would make their lives difficult. Meeting the needs of Indiana teenagers while still keeping them and other drivers safe can be accomplished by a more restrictive graduated licensing law.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Lord Byron´s Poem She Walks in Beauty

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    George Gordon, Lord Byron’s poem “She Walks in Beauty” illustrates an unnamed woman about her beauty and perfection, in which uses contrast of beautiful, but dark imagery to describe the woman’s beauty. This poem explains why the woman is so flawless and perfect in the words of the narrator, and why she is the main focus of the poem, in which is described like the starry night skies. “She walks in Beauty, like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies “ the poet uses imagery in order for the reader to visualize the beauty such as the night sky that surrounds the woman. By comparing this to the night sky filled with light, such as stars, he uses equality as an ideal balanced picture in which can be compared to the woman. Later within the stanza, the woman claimed by the narrator also contains opposite features away from her perfection.

    Read More

  • The Presentations of Women in the Romantic Period

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wilson, Ben. "She Walks in Beauty by Byron: Analysis, Theme & Interpretation." Education-Portal.com. Portal Education, 2002. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

    Read More

  • Byron's Don Juan - No Formal Ending is Needed

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    Byron (George Gordon, Lord Byron), Don Juan, ed. Leslie A. Marchand. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958.

    Read More

  • Feminist Strength In Maya Angelou's Poem

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Several people regard women as inferior figures in this global world. Women have challenged the traditional female roles and have gradually climbed up the ladder of equality. They portray a distinct perspective that proves that womanhood can accomplish anything they set their mind to and search for equal gender status. The poems celebrate femininity and highlights the traits necessary for a women to be successful. The ladies in the poems are female-figures that carry themselves with high self-esteem and fearlessness. This essay identifies various literary techniques that describe feminine strength in Angelou and Clifton.

    Read More

  • The Driving Age Should Be Increased

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to federal driving license laws in the United States, the current legal minimum driving age to obtain a restricted driver’s license varies from state from fourteen years, three months in South Dakota to as high as seventeen in New Jersey. Many high school teens by this time are out and about in their vehicles, adjusting and learning the rituals of the road. But, it is also a time when many teens are at higher risk of danger due to many activities teens are bound to do at their age. From drinking under the influence, drug intakes that can affect mental and physical stability and result in mental performance, to the focus level when it comes to the cell phone usage while driving a two ton death machine. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens aged sixteen to nineteen than among any other age group. It is why insist that the legal driving should be increased at eighteen to twenty-one.

    Read More

  • Use of Irony to Portray Morality in Lord Byron's Don Juan

    2508 Words  | 6 Pages

    The poem begins from the narrator's point of view. The narrator guides Juan's story and plays an important role because from his perspective we can see the reasons behind so many of the "immoral" circumstances in the poem. He begins with a search for a hero. After a search in his present time he states: "The age discovers he is not the true one" (Byron 5). He cannot find a hero in his time but he does acknowledge the existence of hero's in the past. "Brave men were living before Agamemnon" (Byron 33). Therefore he may be pessimistic about his time but not for the whole of humanity. Byron utilizes irony often, and it usually is through the narrator that the irony is drawn out. The narrator is detailing a background on Juan's parents and tells that they quarrel often. He says that it is no business of his that they quarrel. "I loathe that low vice cu...

    Read More

More about An Analysis of George Gordon Noel Byron's poem She Walks in Beauty

Open Document