She Walks in Beauty

"She Walks in Beauty," The Analysis She Walks in Beauty is a poem in which the author speaks of the physical beauty of a woman; a female who the author encountered. This encounter lead him to visualize a great distinct physical image of her so he began to speak of this phenomenal attractiveness. A special quality in her was being able to be identified with the heaven. Beautiful like the stars and clearly visible as a cloudless night. The poem "She Walks in Beauty" came by as an inspiration to the author. This occurred at an event attended by the author where he meet his cousin which is the woman the author speaks about in the poem. The author lord Byron wrote this poem which is found in the Hebrew Melodies. This publication is found with many other lyrics completed in 1815. The poem speaks through the usage of imagery. The poem is highly rhythmic with meaningful tones. Essentially the female in this poem is evaluated in terms of the physical world. For example, the author does not provide a detailed appearance of the woman. She is instead shown responding to the world around her. George Gordon was born in London in 1788. Gordon was the son of Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron and his second wife, Catherine Gordon, a Scots heiress. The next ten years were difficult for George. One of the reasons was because of his clubfoot. The second reason was because of his mother displaced resentment against his father onto him, and George Gordon had later been tended by a Calvinist nurse whom awakened his sexuality. In 1798 his great-uncle the fifth Baron Byron, died childless, and just after his tenth birthday Byron inherited his title. In 1801 Byron was sent to school at Harrow; in the same year he met his half- sister Augusta. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1805. "Byron first published volume, "Hours of Idleness," appeared in 1807, when he was nineteen; the lofty pose he struck in announcing himself as Lord Byron" (The Penguin Group, 1). Then he took his seat in the house of lords that same year, and then departed on a grand tour through most of Europe, there he began "Chilled Harold's Pilgrimage." "Byron returned to London in July 1811, but too late to see his mother, before she died"(The Penguin Group, 2). "After having returned from exotic travels, he became a figure of force and he followed his success with a series of "Eastern" tales that added to his aura: one of them, The Corsair 1814, written in ten days, sold ten thousand copies on the day of publication"(The Penguin Group, 2). Hebrew Melodies 1815, contains one of Byron's most famous lyrics, which is " She Walks in Beauty". After having a relationship with his half-sister Augusta, and presuming that her daughter Medora was his, Byron proposed to Annabella Milbanke. "They married in January 1815; their daughter Augusta Ada was born at the end of the year, but a few weeks latter Annabella left Byron to live with her parents, amid rumors of insanity, incest, and sodomy"(The Penguin Group, 3). "In 1819 the first two cantos of Don Juan were published in an expensive edition meant to forestall charges of blasphemy and bearing neither the authors nor the publisher's name" (The Penguin Group, 3). In April 1819, Byron met his last attachment Teresa Gamba Guiccioli who was married to a man three times her age. When Teresa's father and brother were exiled, she followed them. Byron, then went with her to Pisa. "A serious illness in February 1824, weakened Byron; in April he contracted a fever, treated by further bleeding, from which he died on April 19 at the age of thirty-six"(The Penguin Group, 4). She Walks In Beauty 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 5 Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 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; 10 Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling place. 3 And on the cheek, and o'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 15 But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! She Walks in beauty can be defined as a lyric poem because of its many characteristics. There are many lyric forms expressed in it. Lyric poetry is often short, expressing the intense feelings and thoughts of the speaker as clearly shown throughout this poem. She walks in beauty demonstrates brevity, melody and an emotional intensity in all of its emotional expressions; thus making a relationship of what typically characterizes a lyric poem. The poem consist of three six-line stanzas in which a description of the woman's beauty of a woman is prominent. This is a woman with whom Byron is acquainted. The development of the poem clearly shows the voice through which the poem is spoken, This poem was written as a final product showing how her presence provided for inspiration. The speaker of "She walks in Beauty" feels a highly admiration for this woman to the point that he thinks he is in love with her. The way she walks, her harmonious movement, and her brightness lead the speaker to contrast her with the beauty of the night; which reflects her self control, steadiness, and balance. This is clearly understood when Byron speaks of her image. This is noted on his voice. Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" shows a perfect harmony whit its alternating rhymes. The poem has a new rhyming set in each stanza, ababab, cdcdcd, efefef, matching almost perfectly the last three syllables of each line. In the firs stanza, the last syllables of the words night, skies, bright, eyes, light and denies have a perfect matching rhyme on its ght and ies endings. In the second stanza the words less, grace, tress, face, express and place also have a perfect rhyme on its last three syllables ess and ace. In the third and last stanza the words brow, eloquent,