She Walks in BeautyGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron

Nick Digregorio and McKenna LaFave

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf 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 lightWhich 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!

Summary

According to www.shmoop.com, the poem is about a woman. She's really striking, and the speaker compares her to lots of beautiful, but dark, things, like "night" and "starry skies." The second stanza continues to use the contrast between light and dark, day and night, to describe her beauty. We also learn that her face is really "pure" and "sweet." The third stanza wraps it all up – she's not just beautiful, she's "good" and "innocent," to boot.

History of Author

• Byron was born in 1788 and died in 1824 at age 36 from a fever he caught in Greece.

• He was considered an extraordinarily handsome celebrity

• He left Great Britain because of rumors about him having a promiscuous, bisexual, and insestful sex life.

History Connections

• Romanticism values simplicity and easiness. That is why this poem is written in basic iambic tetrameter, which is considered simple.

• Poets of this time period preferred poetry that was in simple, unadorned language. This poem is written in very simple, easy language.

• Romantics embraced imagination and naturalness. Byron expresses this when comparing the women to night, day, and other natural things.

Attitude

The tone of this poem is awe. The author is writing this poem about a girl he is in awe of. He spends the whole poem only speaking of her inner and outer beauty. He never says one remotely negative thing about her.

Connotation

• · On line 1 the authors use a simile to compare the woman to the night.o Sets up premises for what the whole poem is going to talk about

• This poem is an iambic tetrameter.o Gives poem a positive/song like sound

o Popular in this era

• Every other line rhymes.o Gives poem a young love or the point of view of a child

Themes

1) Beauty is internal as much as external.

The author describes all of the woman's beautiful physical features and how perfect she is, but then he also describes what a pure person she is. He says "A heart whose love is innocent." He finds her external beauty equal to her inner beauty.

2) Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

The man describes how beautiful and magnificent this girl is. Although he never mentions anyone else feeling this way about her, just himself. The woman might not really be this perfect, but instead just perfect to him.

Annotated Bibliography "She Walks in Beauty Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University Inc., 2013. Web.

a) The content of the website gave me an analysis on the poem "She Walks in Beauty." Including only a summary.

b)This is a credible source because it is a website set up for students to provide them information about books, poems, etc. It is used by teachers and updated frequently.

c) I pulled the summary of the poem "She Walks in Beauty" from the source.

"George Gordon, Lord Byron, Is Born." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

a) The content of the website gave me history and background information on the Lord Byron. It describes all of his life and his publications he made.

b) The source is credible because it is written from a very well know website, which is also a television show based on historical events with factual knowledge. It is also connected with many organizations.

c) I pulled Lord Byron's years of life and death, his cause of death, and his sex scandal information from this website.