“She Walks in Beauty”

by
Lord Byron (George
Gordon)

Prof. Louai
2022-2023
 Short Biography (From Britannica)
 George Noel Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, was born 22 January 1788 in
London and died 19 April 1824 in Missolonghi, Greece.
 Born with a clubfoot, he was taken by his mother, Catherine Gordon, to
Aberdeen, Scotland, where they lived in lodgings on a meager income.
 He attended the grammar school there. He was extremely sensitive of his
lameness.
 At the age of 10, George inherited the title and estates of his great-uncle, the
“wicked” Lord Byron. His mother proudly took him to England.
 He courted his distant cousin Mary Chaworth. When she grew tired of “that
lame boy,” he indulged his grief by writing melancholy poetry and Mary
became the symbol of idealized and unattainable love. 
 After a term at Trinity College, Cambridge, Byron indulged in dissipation and
undue generosity in London that put him deeply into debt.
 In 1809, Byron took his seat in the House of Lords, and then embarked with Hobhouse on a grand tour. They sailed
to Lisbon, crossed Spain, and proceeded by Gibraltar and Malta to Greece, where they ventured inland to Ioánnina
and to Tepelene in Albania. 
 In March 1810 he sailed with Hobhouse for Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), visited the site of Troy, and
swam the Hellespont (present-day Dardanelles) in imitation of Leander.
  Thehandsome poet was swept into a liaison with the passionate and eccentric Lady Caroline Lamb, and the
scandal of an elopement was barely prevented by his friend Hobhouse.
 She was succeeded as his lover by Lady Oxford, who encouraged Byron’s radicalism.
 Seeking to escape his love affairs in marriage, Byron proposed in September 1814 to Anne Isabella (Annabella)
Milbanke. The marriage took place in January 1815, and Lady Byron gave birth to a daughter, Augusta Ada. The
couple divorced.  
 His many illicit love affairs were causing too much unnecessary attention and gossip.
 He left Britain for good in 1816 when his wife divorced him.
 He travelled a lot in Europe, and sailed up the Rhine River into Switzerland and settled at Geneva, near 
Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Godwin (soon to be Mary Shelley), who had eloped and were living with Claire
Clairmont, Godwin’s half sister, who gave birth to Byron’s daughter Allegra in January 1817.
 In 1823 he decided to go to Greece and help the Greeks fight for their independence from the Ottoman Empire.
 He was among the most famous of the English ‘Romantic’ poets; his contemporaries included Percy Shelley and 
John Keats.
 He was also a satirist whose poetry and personality captured the imagination of Europe.
 His major works include Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-18) and Don Juan (1819-24).
 He died of fever while engaged in the Greek struggle for independence.
What is Romanticism?
 Predict:
Discuss these questions with a partner.
 Why do you think beauty is a common topic in poetry?
 How can words communicate the idea of visual beauty?
 Look at the key words from “She Walks in Beauty.” With a partner,
discuss the meaning of the words. Based on the words, predict the
main ideas in the poem.
Vocabulary:
-Climes: climate, atmosphere, environment
-Mellow: supple, soften, plasticize, mellow, make soft, make
tender
-Gaudy: ostentatiously or tastelessly ornamented, showy,
extravagant
-Tress: a long lock of hair
-Tints: hue, a usually slight or pale coloration, any of various
lighter or darker shades of a color,  dye for the hair
-Impair: damage, harm, spoil
 Context
 Byron was one of the leading poets of a group known as the Romantics. Romanticism was a
general artistic movement (literature, music, the visual arts, etc.) which dominated European
culture from the late-18th century until the mid-19th century. Romanticism had many key features
among which were:
1-a recognition of the influence of the senses and of personal emotion
2-that the heart (emotion) is considered more powerful than the head (logic/reason)
3-an understanding of the deep power of the natural world
 All of these are features of Byron’s poem.
 Byron is believed to have been inspired to write the poem after seeing a woman with very good
looks at a fashionable London party. His poem is, therefore, a very personal one which responded
to a personal situation. It has been claimed that the lady in question was in mourning and dressed
in a black spangled gown; the first two lines shows how this interpretation would seem to mirror
the image that Byron creates. Byron himself had many stormy personal relationships. He was
famously described as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'.
 The poem was originally published as part of a collection called Hebrew Melodies in April 1815 and
was intended to be set to music of a religious nature. This would have highlighted the reverence in
which the poet holds the subject as he gazes at her in wonder.
 Theme:
Read the text and answer the questions.

 What is the poem about?

 How does Byron perceive a woman’s beauty in the poem?
 Is it a new approach to praising a woman’s beauty?
 What does Byron admire in the woman?
 Themes
 Lord Byron incorporates (I) Beauty, as well as (II) Harmony of Mind
& Body as the main themes of his poem She Walks in Beauty.
 This Romantic poet narrates as well as compares beauty with different
phrases like “tender light” as he creates nice imagery for (a) the
charming features of the woman, (b) the eloquence of speech, as well
as (c) purity of love.
 Moreover, he also focuses on beauty with classical diction and shows
his belief that it lies within as well as the body only projects it.
 In addition, the balance between light as well as dark is a clear
indication that the perfection of that beauty where even a slight change
has the ability of damaging prettiness. So, it easily can be said that the
strand of (I) Beauty, as well as (II) Harmony runs throughout this
lyrical poem of Lord Byron.
Major Themes: 

•The major themes of the poem include beauty and harmony of mind
and body. Lord Byron describes and compares beauty with a variety of 
phrases such as – “tender light” as he creates beautiful imagery for her
charming features, the eloquence of speech and purity of love.

•Byron focuses on the beauty with classical diction as well. He believes

that beauty lies within and that the body only projects that beauty.

•Also, the balance between light and dark clearly indicates the
perfection of that beauty where even a slight change can damage the
prettiness.

•The thematic strand of beauty and harmony runs throughout the poem.
Figures of Speech/Literary Devices
 Simile: A simile is a device used to compare two different objects to understand meanings by
comparing these object’s qualities. There is one simile used in the opening line of the poem, “She
walks in beauty, like the night.” Lord Byron compares the walk of that lady with a dark and clear night
which also means that her footsteps are not heard.
 Metaphor: There are two metaphors in the poem, in lines eleven and twelve. “Where thoughts
serenely sweet express / How pure how dear their dwelling place.” Here the poet compares thoughts
with people and “dwelling place” with the mind. Similarly, “Raven Trees” represents the dark hair of
the lady that adds further to her beauty.
 Personification: Personification is to attribute human qualities to animals or inanimate objects. The
poet has personified “dwelling place” with the human He also personifies the lady’s “cheek” and
“brow” with persons as if they can speak about the good days.
 Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers feel things through their five senses along with their Byron
has used images appealing to the sense of sight such as, “night”; “starry sky”; “cloudless climes”;
“cheek” and “brow.” These images speak for themselves and allow the readers to feel the same beauty
that has delighted the poet.
 Sibilance: It is a device used to stress consonant sounds through their fricative and affricative types
coming after each other. The letter “s” is permanent in lines eleven and second that creates a special
effect. Check the /s/ sound in these four lines.
 Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /a/ in
“Had half impaired the nameless grace” and sound of /e/ in “where thoughts serenely sweet express.”
 Structure and Form

 Lord Byron’s poem She Walks in Beauty comprises just three stanzas of six lines each.
 This poem is written in Iambic Tetrameter. This means that there are four iambs in
every line. An iamb is a group of one unstressed and one stressed syllable. So, in total,
each line has eight syllables. This rhythm is one of the most common in English poetry
and was especially popular in religious music and poems. She Walks in Beauty was
originally intended to be set to music, which partially explains Byron's choice of meter.
 As far as the aforementioned poetic form is concerned; the poets mostly use it for hymns;
that is why it is associated with: (I) Simplicity, and (II) Chasteness.
 Here, it is notable that though this literary piece is (in fact) itself a love poem, it does not
actually refer to passionate or sexual love.
 This lyrical poem of Byron comes composed in iambic tetrameter and with a rhyme scheme
of ABABAB. 
 The awe of the speaker in She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron, at the charming appearance
of the woman comes across as just that: the awe that a(ny) person would feel for (I) a
marvelous or lovely painting, or (II) a picture of nature.
 It is a particularly unusual/uncommon choice coming from the young Romantic poet,
provided that he was mostly known for his lascivious affairs.
Meter in English Poetry
 Rhyme Scheme

•Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows

ABABAB in the first six lines. In the
second stanza it is CDCDCD, and in the
last stanza, the rhyme scheme is EFEFEF.
•Meter: The poem follows Iambic
Tetrameter which means there are four feet
per line or each unstressed syllable is
followed by a stressed syllable as in the
first line of this poem
“She walks in beauty, like the night ”
 Language
 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
 Tone and Mood

 Which of the words in the phrase bank do you think best

describe how the speaker feels in the poem? Explain.
 Symbols

Match it:
• A symbol is something that stands for something else. For example, a rose
can symbolize love. Match the symbols from the poem to their meanings.
 Writing Tasks:
 “She Walks in Beauty” is a good example of a Romantic
poem. It clearly illustrates some of the most important
ideas of Romanticism. Write a 250- to 300-word essay
about how She Walks in Beauty represents the ideals of
Romanticism.
 How does Byron engage the reader’s interest in the
poem ”She Walks in Beauty?”
 Is the speaker in Byron’s ”She Walks in Beauty” only
concerned with the woman’s physical appearance?