Author
George Gordon Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) or more simply, Lord Byron, was an English poet that figures in the romantic petry. Some of his best poems are She walks in beauty, When we two parted, Don Juan, among others. He was very known, not only for his poetry, but for his numerous love affairs, his self imposed exile and his life excesses.
He lived in exile due to all the excesses that he lived at England. He participated at Italy in a revolutionary organization and then he moved to , Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece where he continued his life and died.
Summary
In the first stanza the author introduces us to this incredible beauty he had never seen. He starts with the words: “She walks in beauty, like the night” and as the first line in the poem the author uses natural elements, most of those demonstrate passion and purity. He compares the woman with “night of cloudless climes and starry skies” that shows how the woman glitters among the others and how everything doesn’t look the same like the other people around. He states that her eyes are in the cosmic equilibrium of the dark and bright colors, denotes perfection. That she even has characteristics that heaven denies to natural features.
In the second stanza he describes the purity that exists in her thoughts, that she is not only beautiful in the outside but in the inside too. That her thoughts are lucky to lay on such a beautiful body.
In the last stanza he mentions some parts of her body, he ends telling that she has a mind in peace and an innocent love, characteristics that are almost impossible to find in a person.
Setting
There isn’t a defined setting but there’s a beautiful ambient in which the lady walks like the poem says. Maybe every place where the girl passes turns out to be beautiful.
Character
Lady: Inspired in Lord Byron’s cousin Mrs. Wilmot, she has a divine beauty that Lord Byron had never seen before, which inspires him to write this poem.
Opinion
I liked the poem because it’s an effort from Lord Byron to describe feelings that are very difficult to express, anyway he states the beauty of this girl, in the inside and in the outside.
Alternate ending/stanza
Like the natural forces on earth
Her divine beauty strikes humanity,
And her presence makes me feel
Like dancing in the clouds, like walking in seas.
