Noel Byron's poem titled, "She Walks in Beauty," plainly put, is a
love poem about a beautiful woman and all of her features. Throughout the poem,
Byron explains the depth of this womans’ beauty. Even in the darkness of death
and mourning, her beauty shines through. Her innocence shows her pureness in
heart, and her pureness in love. The two forces involved in Byron's poem are the
darkness and light- at work in the woman's beauty, and also the two areas of her
beauty-the internal and the external. The poem appears to be about a lover, but
in fact was written about Byron's cousin, Anne Wilmot, whom he met at a party in
a mourning dress of spangled. This fact, the black dress that was brightened
with spangles, helps the reader to understand the origin of the poem. Byron
portrays this, the mixing of the darkness and the light, not by describing the
dress or the woman's actions, but by describing her physical beauty as well as
her interior strengths. In the beginning of the poem, the reader is given the
image of darkness: "She walks in beauty, like the night," but then the
line continues explaining that the night is cloudless and the stars are bright.
So immediately the poem brings together its two opposing forces that are at
work, darkness and light. In lines three and four Byron emphasizes that the
unique feature of the woman is her ability to contain opposites within her;
"the nest of dark and bright meet in her.” The joining together of the
darkness and the light can be seen in her "aspect," or appearance, but
also in her "eyes." In this case, the woman's eyes aren't to be
associated with a physical feature, but more as an internal aspect of her; the
eyes reveal her heart. Byron also emphasizes the unique feature of this woman to
contain opposites within her, therefore agreeing with the concept that not only
is there a struggle between the darkness and the light, but also within the
woman. In the second stanza, once again, the opposites are combined.
"Shade" or darkness is combined with "day" or light, and
"raven tress" or dark hair is linked with a lightened face. If the
woman contained with in her and in her appearance either a little bit more of
darkness or a little bit more of light, she would be "half impaired."
A key word in this section is "grace." Although Byron continuously
talks about appearances, in actuality he is referring to the"nameless
grace" that is in her hair and face. Once again, it is something internal
as well as external that is so attractive about this woman. In the third and
final stanza, Byron concludes the poem with three lines a physical description
that lead to the final three lines the woman's moral characterization. The soft
cheeks, the winning smile, the tints in the skin eloquently express not only
physical beauty, but they also attest to her morality. The physical beauty, the
speaker can conclude, reflects days spent doing well, a mind at peace, and
"a heart whose love is innocent!" The tone, relating to beauty, is
that the writer tends to believe that throughout the mourning, a persons beauty
can shine through. The Mood Inspires one to love and to see through the shadows
of mourning. The Speaker of this poem is of someone looking from the outside in.
It is told by a person expressing his observations of what he perceives her to
be. He is trying to convince the reader that she is perfect. The theme shown
throughout the poem is that mourning does not necessarily imply melancholy or
extreme sadness. Byron uses many antonyms to describe this woman but still
portrays a perfect balance within her, often using opposites like darkness and
light to create this balance. A simile was shown in line one which stated,
“She walks in beauty, like the night,” which is also the basis of the poem.
The poem follows a basic iambic tetrameter with an unaccented syllable followed
by an accented syllable that allows for a rhythm to be set by the reader and can
be clearly seen when one looks at a line: She walks / in beau / ty like / the
night. Each line consists of four meters with two syllables each, a total of
eight syllables per line. The rhyme scheme flows as ABABAB CDCDCD EFEFEF The
poem also shows that it is lyrical which helps to put an emphasis on the mood
and tone of beauty that the writer is trying to leave with the reader. There are
various examples of alliteration throughout the poem In line two it states,
“Of cloudless climes and starry skies,” in which there is a repetition of
the “s” sound. The second stanza contains insight into "the dwelling
place" of the woman's thoughts, creating an insight into her mind by using
alliteration. The repetition of the "s" sounds is soothing in the
phrase "serenely sweet express," because Byron is referring to her
thoughts, and her thoughts are serene and pure. As for imagery, the whole poem
was a form of imagery. The writer’s whole poem is a comparison of the two
forces of darkness and light. Throughout the poem, he refers to these two
forces. He constantly makes reference to beauty in nature in describing the
woman’s inner and outer beauty both light and dark. For example, “She walks
in beauty, like the night/ Of cloudless climes and starry skies.” This show
that she is beautiful like the night, which is dark, yet the skies are clear and
full of stars, which are bright. Byron's poem would have been a plain love poem,
but because the forces are so pronounced by his use of colorful language,
rhythm, and use of human characteristics, "She Walks in Beauty" is
world renowned for its powerful description. Not only does it describe a woman's
physical beauty, but also her interior strengths.