She walks in beauty

Question 1

title

Answer 1

‘Walks’ is a present tense verb, so the woman’s beauty is happening right now - suggests that her beauty is continuous and therefore her beauty is also permanent.

Question 2

stanza 1 - 1

Answer 2

The woman has been compared to a cloudless night (‘night of cloudless climes’) that has plenty of stars visible in the ‘starry skies’.
* ‘The night’ has connotations of mystery perhaps suggesting that Lord Byron does not know this woman particularly well.
* ‘stars’ are also often associated with beauty which is slightly unconventional.
more conventional or traditional for Lord Byron to have compared the woman to the day as seen throughout literature - in Shakespeare’s sonnets he asks ‘should I compare thee to a summers day’

Byron writes the woman is the ‘best of dark and bright’.
this juxtaposition suggests that she takes aspects of both nights and day and is the best of both worlds -implies that she is superior to both - she has created Extra Ordinary beauty.

Question 3

stanza 1 - 2

Answer 3

Lord Byron criticizes ‘day’ by saying that it is ‘gaudy’ which connotes too bright, tasteless, tacky - he says that this woman is more beautiful than the day suggesting that he is challenging the conventions of love.

showing a slightly unconventional love could relate to Lord Byron’s stance on love his sexuality and quite free attitude towards love was certainly unconventional at the time.

The enjambment represents breathlessness suggesting excitement and passion and being blown away by the woman’s beauty.

Question 4

stanza 2

Answer 4

the top line is made up of two halves ‘one shade the more, one ray the less’ - this antithesis highlights that the woman’s beauty is delicately poised between light and dark and beauty and perfection lie in this balance.

the adjective ‘nameless’ suggests that the woman’s beauty is beyond words which is quite remarkable.

‘Which waves in every raven tress’
the image on the third line suggests that the woman’s beauty is alive
use of the present tense verb ‘waves’ gives her beauty a sense of energy.
* A ‘raven’ is a bird that has black feathers.
* ‘tress’ means hair.
the image also suggests that’s the energy of her beauty can be seen in her hair.

serenely sweet
the thoughts expressed on her face are ‘serene’ meaning calm and peaceful and they are also ‘sweet’.

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place
these thoughts make her ‘dwelling place’ (her head and face) seem ‘pure’ and ‘dear’ meaning that the thoughts themselves are ‘pure’ and ‘dear’ implying that she must be a good person.

Question 5

stanza 3

Answer 5

Sibilance – ‘so soft, so calm’ - has a soothing effect creating a tranquil and calm atmosphere.

‘goodness’, ‘peace’, ‘heart’, ‘love’ and ‘innocent’ are all words that evoke a positive semantic field - this shows Lord Byron’s celebration of the woman’s purity and goodness.

poem ends with Lord Byron’s celebrating the woman’s character rather than her appearance - this could suggest that someone’s appearance is very surface level and easy to assess but it takes much longer to figure out who they really are – gives the impression that Lord Byron is dismissing physical beauty preferring beauty of character.

Question 6

quotes

Answer 6

stanza 1 - 1
night of cloudless climes’
starry skies’
best of dark and bright’
stanza 1 - 2
gaudy day
enjambment
stanza 2
one shade the more, one ray the less
nameless’
Which waves in every raven tress
serenely sweet
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place
stanza 3
‘so soft, so calm’
‘goodness’, ‘peace’, ‘heart’, ‘love’ and ‘innocent’