She Walks in Beauty is a short poem by the English poet Lord Byron. Byron is one of the most widely recognized figures of the Romantic period in English literature. The Romantics used emotion, sensation, the beauty of nature, and the power of imagination in their many writings.
Byron has further significance as a living example of the so-called “Romantic hero” during his own lifetime. In fact, the term “Byronic hero” is now widely known. In his colorful and often scandalous life, Byron came to represent a certain type of figure during the early 1800’s. This figure was the rebellious, individualistic, sensation-loving poet and traveler, who did not care about the normal rules of social behavior. Much of Byron’s verse reflected, even glorified, this character.
Although chiefly known for his longer poems Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-1818) and the unfinished masterpiece Don Juan (1819-1824), Byron was also an accomplished writer of shorter lyrics. “She Walks in Beauty” was composed in 1814. It was written about Lady Wilmot Horton, whom the poet had met at a ball the night before. The verse was published in 1815, in the collection Hebrew Melodies Ancient and Modern.
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. 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; 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!
Much of Byron’s longer narrative verse, which he often composed speedily, is loose and even slapdash in its construction. This lyric, by contrast, has a polish and a calm poise that reflect the lady it describes. Using an iambic rhythm, which consists of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, the verse pays tribute to its unnamed lady of beauty. She is like the night, rather than “gaudy day,” in her gentle beauty as well as her serene manner. Her attributes are likened to perfection: “one shade the more, one ray the less” would change the ideal arrangement of graceful qualities. But most importantly, her beauty is not just an external, superficial thing, but a reflection of her inner beauty. The speaker’s vision renders her external qualities “eloquent”—she comes to represent for him an essential “goodness.”
The speaker in Byron’s shorter lyrics is a much more public, conventional figure than the “Byronic hero” of the narrative poems. “She Walks in Beauty” is the sort of verse, unlike so much of Byron’s highly charged longer verse, that could be recited or sung to guests in society. But knowing what we do of Byron’s own tormented and scandal-ridden personal life, we can perhaps read envy in his glimpse of “A mind at peace with all below/A heart whose love is innocent.”
For more information about Byron, see Byron, Lord. See also English literature (Romantic poetry); Poetry (Romantic poetry); Romanticism.
