She Walks in Beauty

Hello friend! 

I have brought you a new and extremely interesting blog post today. Happy reading!

She Walks in Beauty is a short lyrical poem by famous English poet George Gordon Byron, better known simply as Lord Byron [the poem was penned in 1813]. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic Movement, and is still widely remembered, loved, and hailed as one of the greatest poets of the 19^th century [I completely agree! I’ve always loved Byron’s poems; his simple, yet descriptive and eloquent style of writing always made me feel happy and dreamy]. I read “She Walks in Beauty” when I was only thirteen, and it made a lasting impression on me. Interestingly, Byron uses both dark and light metaphors to accentuate the subject’s beauty [we don’t know who “she” is, because he never gives us a name]. However, from the barely contained emotions in the poem, it’s obvious that he had a Muse. That’s right, he wrote this poem after setting eyes on a magnificent beauty: while at a ball, he came across Mrs Anne Beatrix Wilmot, the wife of his cousin, Robert Wilmot. He was struck by her unusual beauty, and the next morning the poem was written. Without further ado, I shall give you a brief summary of the poem. I hope you like it!

The poet is talking about how incredibly lovely “she” is; he compares her beauty to that of a cloudless, starry night sky, introducing a previously frowned-upon concept—that darkness can also be associated with beauty. [Byron was a trendsetter!] Her eyes are described as being dark and expressive, filled with a light that is tender but strong; even daylight pales before her radiance. The poet suggests that her radiance is divine and not something humans can comprehend. She moves with effortless grace, and darkness and light fall over her face in turns [curiously, this enhances her beauty.] In this sense, I think that the poet is using light and darkness to describe her magnificence as a way of depicting her balance between all things dark and light [that’s just my opinion, though.] He uses the prettiest words for her hair [“raven tress”. Black is beautiful!] The next two lines confirm that, though she has consistently been associated with darkness, her soul is extremely pure and unsullied; her eyes prove that. Her thoughts are serene and sweet [the poet says this very gently and lovingly; this poem contains very strong emotions, but he has taken care to express himself as simply and sincerely as possible.]

In the next [and last] stanza, the poet comments on how simple, yet eloquent, her beauty is; her skin glows, and her smiles are extremely compelling, winning the hearts of all who behold her. She is just too regal for our poor human eyes—she is like an otherworldly being who has graciously deigned to grace us all with her beauty […the last part is my own addition, hehe… however, that’s certainly the feeling that this poem gives off.] Her entire being gives off vibes of unparalleled serenity and innocence. Though she is so immeasurably superior to all of us, her mind is at peace with everyone, and she does not flaunt her superiority; in fact, I wonder if she is even aware of her superiority. The poet declares that she has the capacity to love innocently and tenderly [quite a rare occurrence, as most people’s love is fierce and way too strong—stronger than needed, sometimes; yeah, I’m talking about Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights”.] The poem ends on this sweet, lingering note; do you understand why this poem made me fall in love with it instantly? I know it’s a short poem, but I’ve tried to elaborate as much as I could, and I worked hard at it; I hope I’ve done this poem the justice it needs. I love Byron’s style of writing—it’s so soft, so understated, so sweet—yet, at the same time, so passionate, so strong, so powerful; I just couldn’t get the words out of my head [I even set a tune to the poem and then sang it to myself whenever I was bored.] Those words are imprinted on my heart! This is just a matter of opinion, but I think that this poem is a sheer stroke of genius [coming from me, that’s really, really high praise, as I’m super picky when it comes to poems, and I’m not always so generous with praise…]. It makes sense that Byron still lives on in our hearts! He perfectly blends the contrasting elements of light and darkness to create a poem rich in metaphorical language; honestly, the way he strings words together, you’d think he commanded the English language. This poem is like multi-coloured threads entwined together, drawing the reader deeper and deeper. Do you agree with me??

…I think I’ve rambled on long enough. I’ll say goodbye right now! Stay tuned!

See you next week!

Thank you!