Poem+explications


 * Poem Explication Revisions**

Emma Tufts Mrs. Boyle Honors Literature and Composition II April 5, 2013

Did you ever think that two totally opposite qualities could result in the perfect woman? In the poem “She Walks in Beauty” written by Lord Byron describes just that. Byron is writing this poem about his cousin’s wife Mrs. Wilmot. This poem is about how Mrs. Wilmot has the best of both worlds. Her beauty is not just characterized as bright, but also dark “like the night” which was how Byron described it in line 1. The poem goes into depth about this woman and points out all of her good qualities, making it seem as if she has no bad ones. In the first stanza in line 3, Byron writes, “And all that’s best of dark and bright”. By saying that he is describing how she may not appear as light to the eye but she herself is more of a glowing beauty. Continuing to line 4, “Meet in her aspect and her eyes” reflects back to the lightness, and that confirms the idea of the light combined with the dark results in beauty. In the second stanza Byron repeats how balanced the woman’s beauty is. In the 9th line, he says “Which waves in every raven tress” which translates to she has beautiful, dark, wavy hair. In line 12, “How **pure** and how **dear** their dwelling-place” he is looking into her inner beauty. In the third stanza, it goes back to her face but also points out the peace and calm in her cheek, brow, and smiles. Her pleasant facial expressions eloquently but innocently express her inner peacefulness and goddess. Basically throughout these parts of the poem Byron is describing this woman as a goddess, and that she has the best of both worlds. The emotions expressed in this poem were generally very easily detected. The poem was very romantic. It was obvious the poet expressed great interest in this woman; you could tell he greatly admired her. Byron used language that was understandable for the most part. He used similes to explain his thoughts. The poem was written in iambic tetrameter. The tricky part was that the 4th line starts with a stressed syllable, which is called a “metrical inversion”. Imagery is the most used literary technique in this poem. All of the descriptions of the woman and the comparisons paint a picture in the reader’s mind of what this woman may look like. Also leading the reader to believe that she is beautiful, and unlike what many would expect, almost of an unearthly nature. It is an older poem therefore the English used in the writing is a lot different than what we are used to in modern-day English. With that being said this poem was harder to understand. And at the same time making it harder to interpret. Once the poem has been deciphered the reader starts to see the true beauty of this poem. The poem "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron is a great work of literature. The poem flows very nicely, and is very poetic. In this poem it is perceived that he wrote this for a woman of whom he greatly adored. The poem admires and gives a positive interpretation of the woman at hand. This poem is a very dramatic explanation of the woman. I believe that he’s trying to compare her to the night sky, and how the beauty within her is similar to the beauty of nature. Every aspect of the poem makes a reader wonder who the woman could be, and what she looks like. It could possibly make the reader aspire to have such qualities as this woman. I really enjoyed this poem. In fact, I believe that it is very well written. With that being said the only thing I would critique would be the difficulty of the language. It, at first, was hard to understand and made it more of a challenge. But with my analysis I believe that I have made the poem a lot more enjoyable.