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!
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!
Interpretation
This poem is not about love, is a strange description of “beauty” so, we can interpret a lot of things, because it contains metaphors that could change our minds.
So, I would like share this point of view about the poem…
In she walks in beauty, Lord Byron, self expresses his personal view of beauty in woman. In the first line, “she walks in beauty, like the night” he is able to give a unique view of this woman. Night, which is generally associated with evil and darkness, is compared to a beautiful woman, to possibly show that even the darkest things have beauty in them. Even through the darkness of night, light and beauty can still be emitted. Lord Byron then makes the night as majestic as possible, by describing it as cloudless and starry. To enforce the idea that darkness could have light in it, he says “the best of dark and bright”. This seems like a direct contraction, but this was done intentionally, to show that dark and bright can go together, as by the women and the night. The writer then goes on to describe the view of the women, but he uses two words to describe the same thing.(aspect and eyes). He is possibly portraying not only the physical beauty of this woman, but her internal beauty as well. The last word in the first paragraph is denies. This shows that the moon and stars are a privilege, which heaven doesn’t give to day, but to night only. In the second line in the second paragraph, the writer describes the woman as “half impaired”. This is odd, because the writer was trying to portray a perfect woman in the night. This shows that regardless of how perfect one may seem they still have imperfections. The writer uses soothing relaxing words throughout the poem, like softly, tender, pure, calm, eloquent, waves, and peace. These all give the poem a relaxing feel to it, to help describe the perfection of the women. Lastly the writer purposely gives us an insight into the woman’s mind, (alliteration) to make us the story multi-dimensional and make the woman more realistic.
Check a short biography of Lord Byron
Do the activity
She Walks in Beauty hangman game
Something about Romanticism
Romanticism (or the Romantic Era or the "'Romantic Period"') was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education and natural history.
