Lord Byron
"She Walks in Beauty"
Poet Research
Lord Byron wrote many works during the eightieth century, including "She Walks in Beauty". "She walks in Beauty" is considered to be his most famous piece of literature.
Lord Byron was a queer man, many of his works inspired by women that he had affairs with, but "She Walks in Beauty" was inspired while at a ball, where he met Mrs. John Wilmot, his cousin by marriage. She was in mourning, wearing a black dress set with spangles. Many believe the lines "She walks in beauty, like the night. Of Cloudless climes and starry skies;" was inspired by her mourning dress. Her dark hair and features set her apart from all other women, leading many people to believe that she inspired the lines "Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er face;". Her beauty was unsurpassable by any other woman, making her seem the main inspiration for the poem. The darkness that surrounded her, from her black locks to her mourning dress, contrasted her beauty and inner light, inspiring the lines "And all that's best of dark and light meet in aspect and her eyes;"
The overall poem is about the how contrasts of light and dark can result in a beautiful thing. Her differences made her all the more gorgeous.
"Which waves in every raven tress,"
During Lord Byron's time, a woman whose hair was raven black, or even dark, was unheard of because a conventional, English beauty was lightly complexed, or pale, and blonde. This symbolizes that her differences made her beauty insurmountable.
"A heart whose love is innocent!"
"She walks in beauty, like the night"
Poem Explication
In the poem "She Walks in Beauty", by Lord Byron, he writes in line one "She walks in beauty like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies;" When you first read this, you immediately think of the contrasts between the light of stars and the shadow of night, foreshadowing the further contrasts written regarding this woman. He then describes her eyes, stating that in her face "And all that's best of dark and bright" are together. Finally he describes her beauty to the "gaudy" daylight.
In the second stanza, the poet reflects on the balance in the woman's beauty: "One shade the more, one ray the less" would hinder the "nameless" grace which surrounds her. He then turns to her inner self, seeing her external beauty as an expression of thoughts that dwell in a place, perhaps her head or her mind, both "pure" and "dear"
The final stanza returns to her face, but again sees the silent expression of peace and calm in her smiles, brow, and cheek, "And on that cheek, and o'er that brow," Her pleasing facial expressions gracefully but innocently express her inner goodness and peacefulness, "So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,/The smiles that win, the tints that glow,"
The poem "She Walks in Beauty" is a poem full of the beauties found within the human soul and the external beauties found on the body. The poem has puts more depth on the adjective beauty. Beauty is not just in pleasing facial features, its about the person inside and being unique. The raven haired beauty was way more different, yet she was the most beautiful person in the room. Her differences and the person she was inside added to her beauty. The theme is not to think someone is beautiful based upon appearance alone, but what makes that person truly amazing is the personal qualities that he or she has like kindness or intelligence. Overall the poem has a good theme and is one of the best ones out there.
She stands alone
She stands alone, in the corner
Her mouth shut like a clamp,
Never revealing her true feelings, her inner thoughts.
She feels so alone because she is, but she never tells anyone
She allows them to push her away to the side, because she feels worthless.
Her feelings cloud her judgment and make her think she is nothing.
The others socialize in the middle of the room,
Their faces obvious and pleasing, yet the same as everyone else's.
No one unique, everyone plain, except her
Her face is different, it's beautiful
But she doesn't know that because no one has told her
She tries to cover it with her hands, her hair, trying to be invisible
No one cared about her because she was and is no one,
So she stands forever alone, thinking that she is a monster,
Cursed to be condemned, not because she's ugly or a bad person,
But because she's different.
Everyone envied her, how beautiful she was and how plain they were
The only way to make her ugly was to kill her inside,
To tease and knock her down, tell her she was nothing when she was something.
They needed her in the corner so that they would be the pretty ones,
So they would be the cool ones.
True beauty to them is the common, perfect face
There is no room for true beauty, only the shallow, outer kind
No kindness, only pretty faces
No uniqueness, only the same.
Anything different must be squashed or the plain ones will lose their lime lights.
So she stands alone, in the corner, forever.