SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY By Lord Byron was

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY By Lord Byron was born in 1788 in Scotland. When he was 10, he moved to England with his mother. He went through many loves as a young child, and in his early adulthood had many affairs with married women. He became close to his half sister, with many accusation of incest, but he insisted it was innocent. His half sister is the one this poem is thought to be about. He would leave England in 1816 due to scandal, where he would live out the rest of his life living through mainland Europe. He died in 1824

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 mellow'd to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 5 One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair'd the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er her face; 10 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, 15 But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!

Paraphrasing She is beautiful at night, and the light of the stars shows it. Light and the darkness both complement her eyes. The light cast upon her at night is much gentler, much heavenlier than the light of day. If the perfect balance of light and dark she holds were thrown off, she would still be half beautiful. Her dark locks of hair express the darkness in her beauty, and her pale face does the same for light. This face so balanced between light in dark encompasses all the sweet and pure thoughts she has. And on her cheek and on her eyebrow, her face is so soft, calm, and eloquent. She has a beautiful smile, and a shade of skin that glows, all that shows her goodness. She has a peaceful mind, and loves innocently.

Diction The poem starts with a fairly colloquial vocabulary, but then progressed to be more formal and complicated. This can be seen when comparing the first line "She walks in beauty, like the night", which is easily understood and interpreted, to a line like "Thus mellow'd to that tender light, Which heaven to gaudy day denies". Though presenting a dreamlike feel, anything pertaining to the woman described wording wise is fairly concrete and vivid, making sure to give straight forward descriptions that go into much detail about her beauty.

Tone and Mood A very calm, serene mood is very evident. It is also clear the tone is that of adoration for the woman whom the poem revolves around, perhaps even love for this woman. Seemingly the poet wanted to make it very obvious to the readers that this woman is the definition of beauty, at least in his eyes, and wants the reader to understand his feelings toward who she was and how she looked. By doing so, he creates a dreamlike atmosphere, and a subtle feeling of unattainability. When I read this poem I pictured an almost angelic like woman, someone beyond anyone's grasp, and I thought of the poet as a man who adored her for this.

Rhetorical Situation The poet is speaking, but never clearly defines himself as the speaker, and it appears he is speaking or thinking to himself of how beautiful this woman is, and the reader is over hearing in a way, or maybe he is intentionally speaking to the reader in order to share the beauty of this woman with those who can never see her.

Figurative Language As far as figurative language goes, this poem contains a simile a personification. The only simile he uses can be found in the first line "She walks in beauty, like the night" and a personification can be seen when he describes day as being gaudy and denying her of her beauty. Overall it has very little figurative language.

Imagery Most of the poem is imagery, since its purpose is to describe this unnamed beauty, so the poet paints mental images in every line. The overall poem creates an image of a beautiful woman, who embodies both dark and light, who intertwines the two to make the most flawless beauty. This is a beauty so great day cannot do it justice, and it only can be properly seen under the gentle envelopment of starlight. Beyond just her appearance, he adds to the image of this woman be describing her purity, how she has an untroubled innocent mind, and how her smiles show her life of goodness. These inner qualities make her calming beauty almost angelic in purity.

Sound Devices The poet incorporated sound devices to a large extent to help support his poem. Rhymes can be easily seen, along with alliterations, and assonance. The poem takes on a simple rhyme scheme of ABABABCDCDCDEFEFEF. Alliterations can be seen throughout the poem, such as in the line "Which heaven to gaudy day denies", and the line "Where thoughts serenely sweet express". It also seems there assonance with the vowel o, supported by the use of the word O'er.

Structure This poem is written in iambic tetrameter and is split up into 3 stanzas, each of which contain a similar rhyme scheme, giving ABABAB to the first stanza, CDCDCD to the second, and EFEFEF to the third.

Conclusion The author got the intended mood across very well, its clear why this is a famous poem. His use of darkness and light to describe her beauty was very unique, and the dreamlike atmosphere of the poem gave the woman an ethereal feel, further supporting her inhuman beauty. Lord Byron wanted to make it clear she was beautiful, and expertly did

Personal Reactions At first this poem didn’t appeal to me, but as I looked at it more, a couple details really stood out to me that I liked. His use of dark and light in describing her seemed so unconventional and unique that it really appealed to me, it gave the woman a different feel than you might expect to find in someone described in a poem. Other than that, the poem didn’t stand out much to me. I didn’t really have much to relate to either, because he was far to obsessed with the woman in the poem, and it seemed way too over the top for me.

Works Cited "Lord Byron. " Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 13 Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lord_Byron>. Bartleby. com. "600. She Walks in Beauty. George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. The Oxford Book of English Verse. " Bartleby. com: Great Books Online -Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Jan. 1999. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http: //www. bartleby. com/101/600. html>. "She Walks In Beauty. " Web log post. Intro To Poetry. 9 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http: //semckinn. blogspot. com/2007/09/she-walks-inbeauty. html>. Lopez, Charles. "She Walks in Beauty. " Web log post. Blog. Spot, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http: //charles-intro. blogspot. com/2007/09/she-walks-in -beauty. html>. "She Walks in Beauty. " Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/She_Walks_in_Beauty>.