About the poet Lord Byron

Lord Byron (1788-1824) was a tremendously popular poet of the Romantic period. Yet this popularity changed into notoriety because of his defiance of social norms. As a result, he left England in 1816 never returning. He participated in the Greek War of Independence, thus proving his concern for liberty, a concern generally associated with the Romantics. He shares a concern for other aspects of Romanticism such as a feeling for nature and the concept of love and beauty. He is notable for the skillful use of varied stanza forms like the heroic couplet, the Spenserian stanza, and the ottava rima.

'She Walks in Beauty, expresses Byron's typically Romantic concepts of love and beauty. This is one of his best lyrics. The concept of beauty expounded in the poem goes beyond the physical. It is the beauty of the heart. The poem is not a conventional love poem but presents a vision of the perfect woman.

Summary

The poem is one of the best lyrics written by Lord Byron who was a famous poet of the Romantic period. The poem 'She walks in Beauty, expresses Byron's typically Romantic concepts of love and beauty. It is the beauty of the heart. The poem is not a conventional love poem but presents a vision of the perfect woman. The poem, 'She walks in beauty by lord Byron is a poem written to praise a lady whom the poet saw at an evening party, and was mesmerized by her exquisite beauty dazzled Byron and inspired him to write this piece of poetry for her. The beautiful woman Mrs. Anne Wilmot, is the wife of Byron's cousin, sir Robert Wilmot. The theme of the poem is the woman's exceptional beauty internal as well as external.

In the first stanza of the poem, the poet compares the woman with the beauty of the night. In the first stanza, the poet describes a woman who, 'Walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies, the poet puts forth the contrast images of night and beauty, the light of stars and the shadow of night. The lady is not beautiful in herself, but she walks in an aura of beauty. She is compared to, 'Night of cloudless climes and starry skies, which is a clear night lit brightly by stars. Here, the poet compares the movement of the beautiful woman to the movement of the skies. She is associated with a night sky is significant. She is near to nature. Nature is part of her. She is the place where nature's beautiful features meet and are fused. The poet expresses this in the line, 'All that's best of dark and the bright! meet in her aspect and her eyes...... The poet declared that the mixture of beauty in her eyes attains a level of beauty higher than that which natures bestow on 'gaudy

day. The poet tells us that this woman's beauty exceeds that of nature. In the second stanza, the poet reflects on the balance in the woman's beauty. She has a perfect balance to her beauty. The line, 'one shade the more, one ray the less,' refers that she has the right amount of "shade" (darkness) and "rays" (brightness) balanced in the look of her face. The poet defines the woman's grace as nameless which means that he cannot find an adjective to explain the splendor that the woman showers around her. The poet then describes the beauty of the woman's face, he says that when strands of hair softly brush her face they look as tempting as leaves of raven trees when wind flows through them. The woman has one of those tranquil faces which tells of sweet thoughts and a precious pure mind. The line, 'where thoughts serenely sweet express', means that the thoughts of her mind are so sweet that they make her countenance so. Then the poet turns to her inner life, seeing her external beauty as an expression of thoughts that dwell in a place (perhaps her mind, or her beautiful head and face) both 'pure' and 'dear'. Here, the poet says that the woman's beauty is so perfect that moves inward. It works into her skin and makes her inner person pure and perfect as well.

face, but again sees the silent expression of peace and calm on her cheek. In the last stanza of the poem, the poet returns to the woman's brow, and smiles. Her present facial expressions express her inner goodness and peacefulness. The poet is focusing on what her looks say about her soul. She is good and kind and has, a heart whose love is innocent. Here, the poet says that the beauty of her face reflects her goodness. Her beauty both enacts her purity and is evidence that she was perfect all along, that somehow her beauty was bestowed on her as a kind of affirmation of good character.

Short Questions

What does the poet describe?

Ans: The poem 'She walks in beauty is written by Lord Byron. In this poem, the poet describes the concepts of love and beauty. The poem is written to praise a lady whom the poet saw at an evening party and was mesmerized and dazzled by her exquisite beauty. The poet compares the woman's beauty with the cloudless climes & starry skies. She has a perfect balance of darkness & brightness in the look of her face, which expresses her inner goodness & peacefulness. Her external beauty is an expression of her inner good thought. In this way, the poet describes the woman's exceptional beauty internal as well as external

b) What role does light play in the description? What time of the day is it?

Ans: The poem 'She walks in beauty is a fine piece of composition written by Lord Byron. The poem expresses the woman's exceptional beauty internal as well as external. Light' plays an important role in the poem, because the poet compares the woman's beauty with the light of stars and the shadow of night. As like the night lit brightly by the light of stars, the woman's beauty also lit brightly because of her beauty aspect and her inner goodness.

c) What does the poet value about his subject?

Ans: The poet compares the woman's beauty with the beauty of the night, the light of stars, and the shadow of night. The poet finds the perfect mixture of darkness and brightness in her aspect and in her eyes. The poet defines the woman's grace as nameless because he could not find an adjective to explain the splendor that the woman showers around her. The woman has one of those tranquil faces that tell of sweet thoughts and a precious pure mind. According to the poet, her external beauty is an expression of her inner thoughts, which express her inner goodness and her peacefulness.

Essay - Type Question

Q.: Describe the interrelationship between the body and the soul?

How does the poet explain the theme of love and beauty in the poem, 'She walks in Beauty?

Ans: The poem she walks in Beauty is written by Lord Byron. In this poem, the poet expresses the exceptional beauty of women whom the poet saw at an evening party. The woman is the poet's cousin's wife Mrs. Anne Wilmot. When he saw her for the first time he was mesmerized and dazzled by her beauty and he was inspired to write this piece of poetry.

In the opening of the poem, the poet compares the beauty of the woman with the 'night of cloudless climes and starry skies". Here, he puts forth the contrast images of night and beauty, the light of stars and the shadow of night. Here, he expressed that a clear night lit brightly by stars. The poet expresses the woman's beauty in the line, "And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes", it means the poet finds the beautiful features of nature in her appearance and in her eyes, which attains a level of beauty higher than that which nature bestows on a gaudy day.

The poet finds the perfect balance of darkness and brightness in her look and on her face. The poet defines the woman's grace as nameless which means that he could not find any adjective to explain her beauty. According to the poet, the woman has one of those tranquil faces which tells us the sweet thoughts of a precious pure mind. The poet thinks that her external beauty is an expression of her sweet thoughts and her pure mind, which express in her skin and makes the inner person pure & perfect.

Again the poet express the woman's beauty and saw the silent expression of peace and calm in her cheek, brow & smile. Her pleasant facial expression express her inner goodness and peacefulness. The poet is focussing on what her look's say about her soul. She is good and kind and "She has a heart whose love is innocent." The beauty of her face reflects her goodness, her purity and is evidence that she was perfect all alone. Her beauty was bestowed on her as a kind of affirmation of a good character.

Reference to Context

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;

Reference :

The above lines are taken from the poem, 'She walks in Beauty', written by Lord Byron. The poem express the concepts of love and beauty which goes beyond the physical. Context:- The poem is written to praise a lady whom

the poet saw at an evening party and mesmerized by her exquisite beauty. The poet inspired from the beauty of the woman and he wrote the po etry. The poet compares the beauty of woman with the beauty of night of cloudless climes and starry skies. As the night, lit brightly by stars, the woman looks more beautiful because of her aspect. The poet express the woman's beauty as she is a part of nature where nature's beautiful features meet and are fused. She has a perfect mixture of darkness and brightness on her face which attains a level of beauty higher than that which nature bestows on a guady day. Conclusion :- To the poet, the woman is most beautiful as like the light of stars and shadow of night. To him, the woman's beauty exceeds that of nature.

2. One shade the more, one ray less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress or softly lightens over her face;
Where thoughts serenly sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling - place.

Reference :

The above lines are taken from the poem, 'She Walks in Beauty', written by Lord Byron. The above lines describes the woman's beauty external as well as internal.

Context :

As the poet regards the lady has perfect balance of darkness and brightness on her face. The poet describes the woman's beauty as nameless grace which means he cannot find an adjective to explain the splender of her beauty which she showers around her. Then the poet goes on highlighting the qualities of her beauty and he says that when strands of her hair softly brush her face they look as tempting as leaves of raven trees when wind flows through them. The sweet thoughts of her pure mind also reflect on her face which express she passed her days in the goodness. And the expression of her face express her good charactor and her pure mind.