SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY BY GEORGE GORDON LORD

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY BY GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON Presented by Katheryn He, AP Literature, 3 rd Period

INTRODUCTION Author: George Gordon Byron (commonly known as Lord Byron) Time Period & Style: Romantic period, Romanticism http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ECg. FJY 0 iz 0 I

THEME AND PURPOSE The theme of the poem is a woman’s perfect beauty which is both physical and spiritual. The purpose of the poem is to convince the audience that external beauty reflect internal beauty and the utmost beauty is one which includes both physical and spiritual beauty.

ANNOTATIONS

Paraphrase image of a dark, clear sky with twinkling stars, and make a contrast between brightness and darkness opposite characteristics of darkness and brightness mentioned in previous lines reappear to mingle and create a wonderful harmony Text of the Poem Connotation I. She walks in beauty, like the night This contrast could mean diverse Of cloudless climes and starry skies; things, such as “black hair” and “white And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light opposites “meet” in the woman Which heaven to gaudy day denies. to create a calm, soft image. skin”, or “deep, black eyes” and “clear, white parts of the eyes. ” She is the place where nature’s beautiful features meet and are fused the woman that the poet is praising is in great balance

the woman’s face is in such a perfect portion that just a slight change would damage it “half impaired” : 1)although the balance is destroyed, the beauty will still be half marvelous because it is only “half impaired. ” 2)emphasizing the current, “greatly balanced” status of the woman’s appearance which should not be destroyed. “nameless grace”: the poet enlarged the woman’s beauty and greatness, II. thereby suggesting it as something One shade the more, one ray the less, so priceless that can’t be defined nor Had half impaired the nameless graceexpressed as a name Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; the woman has a black hair extends this external Where thoughts serenely sweet express beauty onto the woman’s How pure, how dear their dwelling placepersonality “Dwelling-place, ”(12) which is where the mind and the spirit belong, is also sweet and pure. With this perfect inner quality added to her external beauty, the woman becomes more perfect as she possesses beauty inside out.

The last stanza also III. In the phrases “days in talks both about the And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, goodness spent, ”(16) “mind woman’s inner and So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, at peace, ”(17) and “heat outer characteristics. The smiles that win, the tints that glow, whose love is innocent, ”(18) But tell of days in goodness spent, we understand that the woman’s inner thoughts are Her cheek and her A mind at peace with all below, smiles are beautiful A heart whose love is innocent! also as pure and graceful just as her appearance. As in previous stanzas, he once again shows theme of this poem, which is the woman’s physical beauty along with her internal beauty.

ANNOTATIONS Tone: Soft and calm, reverent, admiration Shift: Lines 11 and 12 are a shift from the speaker’s descriptions of the lady’s appearance to her graceful personality. “Where thoughts serenely sweet express /SHIFT/ How pure, how dear their dwelling place” Structure: The first stanza praises her physical beauty. The second and third stanzas praise both her physical and spiritual, or intellectual, beauty.

HOW I WOULD ORGANIZE THE ESSAY? Thesis Statement: George Gordon conveys the idea that a woman’s physical appearance was an indication of her internal beauty in the poem She Walks in Beauty Topic Sentence 1: In the first Stanza, the physical beauty of the woman is emphasized by using contrasts between light and dark Topic Sentence 2: Shifting from purely admiring the external aspects, stanza two links exterior beauty to spiritual beauty and persuades the audience that the perfect beauty is one which incorporates internal and external beauty Topic Sentence 3: In the last stanza, George Gordon informs us that the beauty speaks for itself and that the physical beauty “tells of days in goodness spent” and show “ a heart whose love is innocent. ”

MLA WORK CITED PAGE Byron, George Gordon. "She Walks in Beauty. " Poets. org. 12 June 1814. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. <http: //www. poets. org/poetsorg/poem/she-walks-beauty>. "She Walks in Beauty A Poem by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) 1788 -1824 A Study Guide. " Cummings Study Guide. Ed. Michael J. Cummings. 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. <http: //cummingsstudyguides. net/Guides 5/She. Walks. html>. "Analysis of She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron. " Minhyung's Blog. Ed. Park Minhyung. 3 Aug. 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. <https: //pminhyung. wordpress. com/2011/08/03/analysis-of-shewalks-in-beauty-by-lord-byron/>.