She Walks In Beauty

Question 1

She walks in beauty, like the night

Answer 1

• Mirrors/resonates the opening of the well-known Shakespearian Sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Shakespeare brings to mind the pleasantries of summertime to idolise his heartthrob; however, Byron remodels the approach. “She walks in beauty, like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies”, sets our lady in a frame of calm and awe associated with clear, starry skies. — therefore, Byron subverts typical poetic conventions – her beauty is unique
• Perhaps, sense of mystery associated with the female character – darkness of ‘night’ and reference to ‘skies’
• ‘Night’ may hide her true character, or any flaws -> makes her all the more perfect in Byron’s eyes
• Alternatively: ‘night’ = taboo aspect to Byron’s infatuation; the subject is in fact his mourning cousin’s wife

Question 2

Of cloudless climes and starry skies

Answer 2

• “Cloudless” suggests her clear, “unclouded” complexion or conscience/ / purity , virtue, innocence
• “Starry skies” = a literal reference to her black spangled dress (Mrs Wilmot said to have been mourning)
• Lexical field of the cosmos (sky and stars) prevalent in Stanza 1 – clear Romantic influence. Celestial imagery = divinity, Hope, guidance, faith; but perhaps also fate
• Also, alliterative ‘c’s and sibilance = rhythmically satisfying, euphoric

Question 3

One shade the more, one ray the less

Answer 3

• Syntactic parallelism creates a gentle rhythm
• The woman is the epitome of perfection, even the slightest alteration would corrupt her beauty – caesura = perhaps her beauty is fragile
• Byron is certainly mesmerised by her transcendental beauty

Question 4

• Byron speculates: ‘Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place’

Answer 4

• Byron moves on from a physical perceptive to describing the woman’s inner goodness – he hints that her internal beauty (‘sweet’, ‘pure’, youthful, innocent) illuminates her physical appearance. He uses the metaphor ‘dwelling place’ as the source of her thoughts: her mind
• Sibilance “serenely sweet” = soft sound, amplifies poem’s musically
• “Sweet”/ “pure” suggest her innocent, virtuous thoughts
• However, Byron could be critiqued for making assumptions about the woman’s character based on her appearance

Question 5

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent’

Answer 5

• Lyrical balanced line, satisfying triplet of adjectives
• Dual interpretations – perhaps how the light highlights her cheek and forehead; but also her angelic demeanour
• Women of the era would have been valued only for passivity and external beauty, but the poet’s feelings go beyond this. The sibilance of “so soft” creates a tenderness in the poet’s voice and the punctuation slows the rhythm, as one can image the poet marvelling at her beauty and character

Question 6

A mind at peace with all below’

Answer 6

• “At peace” = her internal and external beauty are perfectly aligned, in harmony with one mother
• “All below” – suggests he views her as above him, perhaps looking down from a heaven, highlighting this divine view of her
• The last two lines are juxtaposed, the penultimate being about death, although alternatively could simply be saying she was at peace with all those she interacted with on earth
• “Peace”, “All below” could suggest death; a projection of how she might be when in heaven
• The final lime asserts that the love that emanates from her “heart” is pure; a match for her mind

Question 7

religion Quote - Thus mellowed to that tender light/ Which Heaven to gaudy day denies

Answer 7

• To Byron, the beauty of Mrs Wilmot exceeds that of the sun — daylight is “gaudy” (excessively showy) compared to the tender light that radiates from “her aspect and her eyes” // softened luminosity, unlike glare of daylight – emphasises that beauty is achieved through balance
• The subtlety of her beauty, like light half-dimmed, continues the theme of mystery associated with her (appearance)
• Synaesthesia- through “tender” and “light”, Byron combines senses of touch and sight into one (powerful/eloquent) image – as if light is caressing the woman’s face
• Tender – dual meaning : delicacy; compassion/sympathy
• “Heaven” = associates her with the divine

Question 8

All that’s the best of light and dark

Answer 8

• Juxtaposition of “dark” and “bright” implies the subject is the perfect combination of vice and virtue, enforcing the idea that beauty is achieved through delicate balance and harmony
• These contrasting elements may also refer to the idea of the Byronic hero – a flawed character, who balances cynicism and self-destructive tendencies with a mysterious magnetism. In fact, arguable, it is her flaws that make Mrs W perfect.
• Focus on darkness creates an erotic theme, emphases by the focus on “night” which signifies death, mystery, misbehaviour . The night hides misdeeds, allowing for Byron’s desires to be explored

Question 9

Context

Answer 9

• Byron was a leading Romantic poet
• Poem an ode to the purity and grace of ‘Anne Beatrix Wilmot’, wife of his cousin ‘John Wilmot’, who he met at a fashionable London party
o She was in mourning at the time, dressed in a black spangled gown (an image mirrored by the opening two lines)
• Byron himself had many stormy personal relationships, including with men (forbidden, bisexual) and with his half sister (incestuous) – he was famously described as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’

Question 10

Form and structure

Answer 10

• 18 line lyric, written to be set to Jewish music, giving it a holy, harmonious feel
• Iambic tetrameter = euphonic, lyrical, musical— fitting theme of love
• 3 sestets
• Unfaltering alternate rhyme scheme (ABABAB CDCDCD EFEFEF) = sense of elegance/balance, mirrors woman