“She walks in beauty, like the night”
• Who could be the subject of this line?
• What do you think of the speaker’s tone of voice? (feelings)
• What do you expect from the speaker’s attitude towards her?
• What do you think this line means?
She Walks in Beauty
Lord Byron
Put the stanzas in order.
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
She almost seems to be unobtainable and, to some
extent, we may sympathise with the poet’s sense of
longing.
What could the term ‘Romanticism’ mean?
• A movement in styles of writing away from the
scientific and in favour of emotion and the sublime.
• Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on
emotion and individualism as well as glorification of
all the past and nature.
• This scientific rationalization of nature was something
people weren’t used to. Before now, people wrote
poetry to educate and portray things like farming
processes.
• The movement emphasized intense emotion as an
authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new
emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror
and terror, and awe—especially that experienced in
the sublimity and beauty of nature.
Lord Byron
Look at the first two lines of the poem. What do you notice about
Byron’s use of opposites?
“walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies”
Find another example of where he uses a contrast in the poem.
Explain the effects of these contrasts.
Example Answer
Straightaway the light of stars and the shadow of night are contrasted, which
foreshadows the further contrasts the poet notices regarding this beautiful
woman. Noticing her eyes, Byron states that in her face “all that’s best of dark and
bright”. Her beauty is contrasted to the “gaudy” daylight.
What else could you add to develop this response?
Why the writer is using contrasts
What these contrasts suggest about his feelings
CHALLENGE: How this links to relevant contexts (How it proves Byron’s an
advocate of Romanticism)
Themes
• Use the table to help explore the themes of aesthetics, light, and a
sense of wonder.
Theme
Evidence
Analysis
Appearance: Byron avoids conventional
‘the nameless grace/ The woman is a raven-haired beauty. The word
symbols to describe the subject’s beauty, eg
Which waves in every ‘raven’ perhaps gives her a darker aspect as it is
flowers or a sunny summer’s day. It is a less
raven tress’
traditionally associated with a bird of bad omen.
conventional appearance that is described.
Light: there are several references to day- and ‘And all that’s best of
night-time, to aspects of the natural world
dark and bright/ Meet
which create light (stars) and to an inner light in her aspect and her
or radiance.
eyes’
The best features of light and its antithesis
(opposite), darkness, meet to form something even
greater in the subject’s extraordinary beauty. It is
especially noticeable in her eyes.
A sense of wonder: the speaker’s sense of
'She walks in beauty,
wonder is not directly expressed but comes
like the night/ Of
from the nature of the comparisons he makes
cloudless climes and
between the woman and aspects of the
starry skies'
natural world.
In the opening two lines the poet uses a simile (a
comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to create a vivid
image) to compare the subject’s beauty to
something vast, uncontained and almost
unimaginable.
How does Byron demonstrate the power of the
woman’s beauty?
EXAMPLE RESPONSE: The whole poem is fixated exclusively on this one person
right from the opening word, “She”. Nothing factual is revealed about the
woman (her name, her age) As a result, she has a sense of mystery about her
which enhances her attractiveness. Byron uses strong contrasting images of light
and darkness to convey extremes of emotion. The light presents connotations of
her beauty to being heavenly, angelic and awe-inspiring. While the darkness
emphasises the woman as only identifiable by her beauty. It’s the predominant
aspect of her to the speaker until the final line when he references a deeper
effect of how her beauty has affected him, “A heart whose love is innocent!”.
When he personifies her heart as vulnerable and pure, it is in the last line when
he finally goes beyond her physicality and links his feelings of love as stemming
from the aesthetic eventually to something internal.
Interpreting meanings in the poem
Read the two interpretations of the whole poem and add one of your
own with a reason.
Interpretation
Reason for interpretation
The speaker immediately falls in love
The word ‘love’ finally appears in the last
with the woman he sees but takes some
line of the poem.
time to admit it.
The speaker’s actual feelings are not
The speaker is physically attracted to the
directly described. He seems more
woman he sees although he does not fall
aware of her physical good looks than
in love.
anything else.
Interpretation of the lines:
‘And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow‘
Read the two interpretations of the whole poem and add one of your own with a
reason.
Interpretation
Reason for interpretation
The poet is describing how the light
The poet describes the woman’s physical highlights the woman’s cheek and
appearance.
forehead and enhances her physical
beauty.
The poet thinks the woman’s smiles and
The poet describes the woman’s inner
blushes are a result of her inner
character.
goodness and modesty.
Language: Specifically how do Byron’s words create
an idea of beauty?
Devices to comment on:
Alliteration
Simile
Imagery
Assonance
Antithesis
Language: Specifically how do Byron’s words create an
idea of beauty? Try to make reference to the words which show contrasts that
we looked at previously too.
EXAMPLE RESPONSE: The poet uses rich and varied language which draws
attention to itself through literary devices such as alliteration and assonance. For
instance, in the first stanza there are two examples of alliteration in the second
line (‘Of cloudless climes and starry skies’) while a pattern of assonance weaves
around this (the ‘i’ sounds of: ‘night’, ‘climes’, ‘skies’, ‘bright’, 'eyes', ‘light’ and
‘denies’). All but one of these words is brought to the reader’s attention by being
placed at the ends of the lines.
Antithesis is also used on a number of occasions eg ‘One shade the more, one
ray the less’. In this line 'shade' is contrasted with 'ray' and 'more' with 'less'. This
repeated use of opposites may highlight the confusion in the speaker’s mind as
he tries to come to terms with trying to describe the woman’s overpowering
attractiveness – something which is basically beyond words.
Structure: How can any of the following emphasise any
meanings in the poem?
Amount of stanzas
Rhyme scheme (regular or irregular?)
Rhythm
Enjambment
The poem has three stanzas, each consisting of six lines. The rhyme scheme is
regular and follows the pattern ababab. The rhythm of the poem is highly
regular. This consistent rhythm emphasises the regularity of the subject’s walk
but also her faultless perfection. Working against this rhythm, Byron makes
much use of enjambment. It is almost as though the speaker cannot pause for
breath in trying to tell the reader about how beautiful this woman is.
What effects could these ideas have on the audience?