She Walks in Beauty - Lord Byron Flashcards
when was this poem written?
1814
themes?
- power - power of beauty or emotions
- love
- man - a nameless woman, it is about the man’s feelings for that woman
poet context
- born in 1788 and died in 1824
- described by a former lover as ‘Mad, bad, and dangerous to know’
- a Romantic poet, politician, and eventual revolutionary
- a celebrity - famous for both his writing and his aristocratic excesses
- involved in a number of sex scandals including high profile married women
- became sexually involved with men at a time where homosexuality was illegal, including teenage boys - this could link to how his stepfather did the same to him as a child
- incestuously involved with his half sister
- had a deformed foot
- spent lots of time travelling Europe and was in a lot of literary circles
- friends with Percy Bysshe Shelley
- this poem was published in 1815 in the collection ‘Hebrew Melodies’ and it is intended to be accompanied by music
- this poem was inspired when Byron met his cousins wife at his funeral
- drunk out of skulls
- was inspiration for the first ever vampire book and Frankenstein
- committed incest with his half sister
- he had a pet bear
- one of the first celebrities to ever recieve fan-mail (Byromania)
- became a Lord at 10 years old
- his daughter is Ada Lovelace
- was interested in Armenian culture
- he is a considered a Greek national hero and died in Greek exile at 34 years old
what is the meaning of this poem?
- the poem’s persona describes seeing a beautiful woman, and describes her beauty using terms of lightness and darkness
- the woman’s body is described in detail, leading to the persona to comment on her personality and mind, which he decides must be virtuous, as she is beautiful
what is the mood of this poem?
- this poem is celebratory, celebrating external and internal beauty, as shown by ‘all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes’ and ‘a heart whose love is innocent’
what was the motivation for the poet to write this poem?
- in this poem, Lord Byron celebrates a woman, initially for her external beauty, perhaps reflecting the notoriety he had for his involvement in a number of sexual scandals
- as the poem progresses, it glorifies the woman’s internal beauty, evoking Lord Byron’s status as a prolific Romantic poet, as it suggests he is in awe of her, rather than just lusting after her, and Romantic poets often write about intense feelings
title: ‘She Walks in Beauty’
LANGUAGE:
- the present tense verb ‘walks’ suggests that her beauty is continuous and permanent
- the preposition ‘in’ suggests that her atmosphere is gracious - this could be a homage to her
‘like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies’
IMAGERY:
- this simile compares the woman to a perfect night - not a cloud in the sky and plenty of stars
- has connotations of mystery and beauty which is an unconventional comparison
- mystery could display how Lord Byron does not actually know this woman particularly well
‘best of dark and bright’
LANGUAGE:
- this juxtaposition suggests she is both things at once, and therefore better than the both
- she has created extraordinary beauty because her body is harmonious and balanced
‘aspect’
LANGUAGE:
- Lord Byron is objectifying her by her own appearance which an anti-feminist reader may disapprove of
‘that tender light’
IMAGERY:
- a soft and beautiful light lies in her face and eyes
- mellow; too bright to describe her with
‘Which heaven to gaudy day denies’
LANGUAGE:
- Lord Byron has criticised daytime by being too bright
- claims this woman is more beautiful than the day
- Byron is challenging the conventions of love and literature which reflects how his own attitude towards love was unconventional for his time
‘One shade the more, one ray the less’
STRUCTURE:
- the use of antithesis (opposites presented in a repeated structure) highlights how delicately balanced the woman’s beauty is
- her beauty is poised between light and dark and it is in that precariousness that perfection lies
‘nameless grace’
LANGUAGE:
- the adjective ‘nameless’ suggests that the woman’s beauty is behind words
‘Which waves in every raven tress’
IMAGERY:
- this image suggests that the woman’s beauty is alive
- the verb ‘waves’ is written in present tense giving her beauty a sense of energy
- also suggests that her dark hair is very beautiful
‘Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place’
LANGUAGE:
- her outward beauty is expressing her inner beauty: she is a good person
- her thoughts are pure and dear which has child-like, innocent connotations
‘eloquent’
LANGUAGE:
- this is malapropic which could suggest Byron has respect for the woman
‘But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent’
- the poem ends with a celebration of the woman’s personality, morals and virtues, not her appearance
- this could suggest that someone’s appearance is very surface level and easy to assess, however, it takes longer to discover who someone really is
- by structuring the poem like this, Lord Byron is dismissing vanity and physical beauty and celebrating internal beauty
structure
- the enjambment in the first stanza represents breathlessness - excitement, passion and being ‘blown away’ by her beauty
- the sibilance in the last stanza creates a calm, soothing mood, just like the woman’s thoughts in the phrases:
‘So soft’, ‘so calm’, ‘smiles’, ‘tints’ ‘days’ and ‘goodness spent’ - formed of consistent stanzas - six lines each
- regular and strong ABAB rhyme scheme
- generally strong iambic tetrameter
- strong, unwavering structure could mimic the woman’s beauty
language
- Lord Byron celebrates the woman’s purity and goodness using a positive semantic field:
‘goodness’, ‘peace’, ‘heart’, ‘love’ and ‘innocent’
imagery
- light has been used to represent beauty but this is a very traditional image of beauty
- Lord Byron rejects this idea of traditional/literary ideals of beauty claiming that it is darkness that displays beauty
- this subversion could reflect his own subversive sexual preferences for his time period
