She walks in Beauty - Quotes, Context and Form & Structure
- Created by: Noah_S
- Created on: 28-03-19 17:56
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- She Walks in Beauty
- Lord Byron
- 1813
- Middle
- "nameless grace"
- The poet literally cannot put into words how beautiful she is in mind and spirit. No words can fully explain her beauty.
- "Which
waves in every raven tress"
- The adjective ‘raven’ perhaps gives her a darker aspect as it is traditionally associated with a bird of bad omen.
- This perhaps represents the two sides of her characters.
- "nameless grace"
- Contexts
- Lord Byron
- One of the leading Romantic Poets.
- Inspired to write the poem after seeing a woman with very good looks at a London party.
- The poem is a personal one to Byron which responded to a personal situation.
- Lord Byron was a 'loveable rogue'
- It has been claimed that the lady in question was in mourning and dressed in a black spangled gown.
- The first two lines mirrors this interpretation to the image that Byron creates.
- Lord Byron
- Form and Structure
- 18 Line Lyric poem
- Written to be spoken or sung to music (possibly to woo the lady as a traditional romantic gesture).
- Three stanzas
- Consists 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.
- Byron makes much use of enjambment
- It is almost as if the speaker cannot pause for breath while telling the reader how beautiful this woman is.
- 18 Line Lyric poem
- End
- "And on that cheek, and o’er that
brow/so soft, so calm, yet
eloquent"
- The repetition of the connective ‘and’ suggests a
continuation or a syndetic list.
- This emphasises how when the poet looks at the woman, more and more beautiful things about her stand out to him.
- The sibilance of ‘so soft’ creates a tenderness in the poet’s voice and the punctuation slows the rhythm of the tone.
- The repetition of the connective ‘and’ suggests a
continuation or a syndetic list.
- "the smiles that win, the tints that
glow/but tell of days in goodness
spent"
- The metaphor suggests that her smile could win any man over, her smile lights up her face and brings a smile to everyone who sees her
- More importantly the conjunction ‘but’ show that her glow is from the inside and is a reflection of what a nice-natured woman she is.
- "And on that cheek, and o’er that
brow/so soft, so calm, yet
eloquent"
- Beginning
- "Thus mellowed to that tender
light/which heaven to gaudy day
denies"
- The use of the verb ‘mellowed’ creates an image of haziness, dreaminess and romance.
- There is use of personification in the word light, to reflect poet’s emotions.
- He compares the view of the woman with heaven, emphasising his emotions and how everything looks so dreamy when he looks at her.
- "She walks in beauty"
- Repetition of the title to emphasise the poet’s amazement at the woman’s beauty.
- Also a metaphor to create a dreamy sense of how the world seems when this beautiful woman walks.
- This ‘beauty’ is not a place, but a state of being.
- "Thus mellowed to that tender
light/which heaven to gaudy day
denies"
- Lord Byron
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