Analysis Of She Walks In Beauty

Lord Byron’s poem “She Walks in Beauty” is about a woman who is strikingly beautiful. This is not a love poem because the speaker never directly states that he is in love with her. He uses unconventional ways to describe her beauty. He compares her to many beautiful and dark things such as the night and starry skies. In the first stanza he uses a combination of dark and light comparisons to underline her beauty. Her eyes are both dark and bright, and her beauty is like a clear starry night. The second stanza is a continuation of the light to dark comparison, night and day to describe the woman’s beauty. He describes her face as pure and sweet. In the third stanza we find out that she is also good and innocent on top of being beautiful. He uses …show more content…
The speaker contrasts the concepts of dark and light throughout the entire poem. His description of the woman is being the best of both the dark and the light. The speaker exemplifies this with “One shade the more, one ray the less, / Had half impaired the nameless grace” (Byron lines 7-8). In this he states that to change one shade or to take away one ray would damage her indescribable beauty. Also the idea of dark and light making up her beauty are found in “Which waves in every raven tress, / Or softly lightens o 'er her face” (Byron lines 9-10) In which Byron implies that her dark hair lightens up her face. Symbolism is also used to describe innocent love, which is a reoccurring theme in the poem. The speaker uses the metaphor “Where thoughts serenely sweet express / How pure, how dear their dwelling place” (Byron lines 11-12) to describe that the woman facial expression suggests she has sweet and pure thoughts. In the final lines “A mind at peace with all below, / A heart whose love is innocent!” (Byron lines 17-18) the speaker states that she is at peace with everyone and her love is innocent. The last line implies that she is still intact both physically and