Sunday, December 6, 2015

What is the message that the poet wants to convey through "She Walks in Beauty"?

This is perhaps Byron's most famous poem as it caputres
the sight of a beautiful woman that the speaker has seen at a ball. She somehow manages
to paradoxically combine the best aspects of both light and dark, and in her character
the poet can sense purity, calm, innocence and sweetness. I don't necessarily think that
Byron had a purpose other than to commemorate what was to him a beautiful and impactful
moment that he desires to set down for all time in this poem. Byron presents us with an
amazingly detailed and beautiful picture of beauty itself, as characterised by this
woman, and in particular the last stanza is notable for what Byron is trying to
convey:



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!



What is remarkable
about this woman is the way that her external beauty, "The smiles that win, the tints
that glow," actually reflect the woman's internal beauty and her kind and virtuous soul.
This woman, unlike others, the implication is, has a beauty that reflects her own
internal beauty. Beauty is not necessarily just skin deep, after
all.

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