I really enjoyed reading Byron's poem, "She walks in beauty." While reading this poem I was also mesmerized by the imagery that this poet used to describe this beautiful woman. He uses images of light and darkness or black and white interacting together to describe the wide spectrum of elements in this beautiful woman's personality and looks.
"She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;"
If line one is read by itself, the reader would be getting only a dark image of this woman. However, the line continues telling us it was like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies suggesting this woman's beauty was like the stars in the sky on a cloudless night. The speaker continues by stating, "And all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes,'' (line3, page 358) giving us a perfect contrast of dark, suggesting black and bright suggesting white. This woman has the perfect combination of black and white, which in itself is perfect.
In the second stanza, the author continues to explain this woman's perfection. Using the words "One shade the more, one ray the less, had half impair'd the nameless grace" (lines 7 and 8). In his eyes if she was any way different, she would not be beautiful. In the words, "Where thoughts serenely sweet express how pure, how dear their dwelling-place," suggest that this woman is not only physically beautiful but inwardly she is stunning. Her inward radiance is expressed outwardly.
In the third stanza, Lord Byron continues to be mesmerized in the woman's beauty. First he describes her physical beauty using words such as "soft," "calm," "eloquent" to describe her cheek and brow. Then, the author validate this outer beauty by telling us where it came from, using phrases such as, "days in goodness spent," "mind at peace," and "heart whose love is innocent" suggesting that inwardly she is also beautiful.
This poem, "She walks in beauty," was undoubtedly beautiful and the title so fitting. It describes a beautiful woman. This woman as seen through the eyes of the author had true beauty that the author has never seen before. She is not only beautiful physically or outwardly, but this beauty started inwardly. One can only image, will the author still be obsessed with her beauty when she is old and her physical appearance shows the signs of aging or will she be always beautiful regardless of her age.
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3 comments:
Anthony,
Good poem to discuss by Byron, and you provide a good explication of the poem. I like the way you work your way through it and the observations you make. At times, though, it seems like you are merely restating Byron's points more than you are analyzing or bringing new ideas to the poem. Perhaps a discussion of how this poem fits in with other ones you have read by the other Romantics (who really haven't discussed romantic love as we would call it, or female beauty), or even in contrast to Byron's own poems in the collection.
I like how you broke down each stanza. I pictured the imagery as well when he would describe the lady. I can picture her in her dress and how she looks at the party. I did notice the black/ white interaction also that he incorperated.
Anthony,
That is an interesting point when you ask whether Byron would still love her when the physical beauty is gone. I would like to think yes, because the beauty he seems to be describing seems eternal and on a higher level than a physical level.
-Stacey
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