She Walks in Beauty (Lord Byron)

Question 1

CONTEXT A03

Answer 1

written by Lord Byron
- leading figure of the Romantic Movement
- liked to break convention
- known for his many relationships with different women
purpose
- an ode to a woman he met at a party
written in the 19th century
- women usually admired for external beauty and passivity, however his feelings go beyond this.

Question 2

STRUCTURE

Answer 2

• sestets (fundamental to sonnet form)
• 3 stanzas
• regular rhyme scheme (ABAB)
• iambic tetrameter
• enjambment

regularity emphasises the subject’s walk but also her faultless perfection.
the enjambment works against the regularity of the poem and it’s almost as though the speaker cannot pause for breath in trying to tell the reader about how beautiful this woman is.

Question 3

FORM

Answer 3

written in lyric form

Question 4

‘She walks in beauty, like the night’

Answer 4

‘She’ - PRONOUN - shrouds the subject in mystery

‘like the night’ - SIMILE

‘night’ - (blanketed in darkness) - again suggesting mystery and allows Byron the freedom to illustrate his idea of the ‘perfect woman’.

Question 5

‘Of cloudless climes and starry skies’

Answer 5

‘cloudless climes’ + ‘starry skies’ - ALLITERATION - emphasises the balance already provided by the regular rhythm

‘cloudless climes’ - creates the image of clear, starry skies - sets the lady in a frame of calm

Question 6

‘And all that’s best of dark and bright’

Answer 6

‘dark and bright’ - OXYMORONIC - presents a dichotomy of good and bad - her ‘flaws’ make Byron desire her even more

‘all that’s best’ - she is the best combination of bad and good

Question 7

‘Thus mellowed to that tender light’

Answer 7

‘tender light’ - conveys the subtlety of her beauty

Question 8

‘One shade the more, one ray the less’

Answer 8

‘more’ + ‘less’ - ANTITHESIS - shows Byron’s struggle to capture her overwhelming beauty into words

Question 9

‘So soft, so calm, yet eloquent’

Answer 9

‘so’ - REPETITION - places emphasis on her perfection

‘soft’ + ‘calm’ - ADJECTIVE - presents how women were usually admired for passivity and external beauty.

Question 10

‘A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!’

Answer 10

‘innoncent’ - ADJECTIVE - asserts that the love which emanates from her heart is pure and innocent.

Question 11

‘And on that cheek, and o’er that brow’

Answer 11

‘cheek’ + ‘brow’ - focuses on the relationship between inner and outer beauty, suggesting that these features express and inner beauty