Analysis of Lord Byron´s Poem She Walks in Beauty

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.
“And all that’s best of dark and bright/Meet in her aspect and her eyes” by describing contrast again, the narrator refers to the balance of beauty within her face, hair, and skin tone. It also reveals the opposite aspects toward the internal view of the woman, although, because the woman is only seen walking from the beginning of the poem, Byron continues to talk about her facial qualities, which is her face and her hair which attracts him the most. Byron says ‘all that’s best of dark and bright, meet in her aspect and her eyes,’ this reveals the only appearance that refers to the metaphor of dark and bright are her beautiful features, compared to the night and day that illustrates the meaning of beauty toward the unknown woman. The poet uses mostly similes and metaphors from the previous stanza in order to better describe how these features are perfect, equally balanced, and beautiful, which ...

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...possibly have, in which forms a balance between the internal and external view of the person. By using metaphors of light and darkness helped give detail on describing this perfect balance, for instance “She walks in Beauty, like the night,” and “Thus mellowed to that tender light,” are examples of his comparison in his belief of a balance. Each line is composed of iambic pentameter, and reveals the explanation about the woman’s beauty at the end of each stanza, making this poem understandable using the poet’s illustrations. And using these stanzas to describe the woman’s views, the Poet states that the dark, or the ‘starry night,’ represents internal beauty, whereas light describes the woman’s external beauty, which is her facial features, such as eyes, smile or hair. Byron concludes when both light and darkness meet at the same amount, it has achieved perfection.