“We love the things we love for what they are.”
― Robert Frost

This week I am reviewing a poem by Byron. This is one of his more famous poems, and is the prototypical embodiment of romantic poetry. Without further ado:

She Walks in Beauty

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 mellowed to that tender light
   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
   Had half impaired 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!

            -Lord Byron

To fully appreciate the meaning and passion this poem puts forth, we must first understand Byron as a poet. As a Romantic, Byron was in love with nature and the beauty it provided. Coming from this perspective, the comparisons that Byron makes become much more significant. In the first stanza Byron compares the lady to a cloudless night full of stars. For Romantics, the night is one of the most beautiful and pleasurable scenes imaginable; so for Byron to make such a statement is more than a simple compliment to a woman’s prettiness. He continues to describe her sheer beauty by drawing metaphors to the light striking her face and eyes. In the final two lines of the poem Byron continues to compare this woman’s splendor with nature, comparing her to a gaudy day.

In the first stanza Byron subtly tries to make the reader imagine this woman not only in sight, but also in sense. This is observed through the careful word choice Byron uses. We are only six lines into the poem and Byron has already placed a heavy emphasis on the theme of light; keep this in mind. The fifth line draws my interest the most. “Mellowed” is taken to mean “softened” or “relaxed”; this meaning pulls attention to the sense of touch, not sight. Furthermore, “tender” refers to a tactile physical quality and it is being used for light. Byron is trying to use synesthesia to mix up the senses we envision. He does this because he wants us to feel the moment rather than simply imagine it. By specifically mixing light with a physical sensation the entire poem becomes more of a surreal experience than a recount of a person he happened to see.

In the second stanza Byron continues to compare this woman’s beauty with elements of nature, drawing on the theme of light and associating her hair with a “raven tress”. Byron makes a powerful claim in the first two lines of the second stanza. He essentially explains that this woman is perfect; that any slight change would diminish her beauty. He is so struck with awe that he is unable to provide a label for her elegance. Towards the end of this stanza Byron begins to make his final remark on this woman. Her thoughts are “sweet” and she is “pure” and “dear” to him.

The final stanza continues Byron’s thought process in the second, but he wants to set it up well. He introduced the notion of this woman being “pure” and “sweet”, but it means nothing without the proper build-up. Knowing this, Byron uses the final stanza to make things more personal; he uses a slower cadence by placing more pauses in the lines. Instead of rushing through this stanza we find ourselves walking through it and lingering on every word. We are given a close up display of her qualities almost as if she was right in front of us. After forming a more personal setting Byron uses the last three lines to review this woman’s virtue. Her days are spent in “goodness”, her mind is “at peace” with her heart, and her love is “innocent”.

A classic love poem, Byron pushes us to perceive the moment for all that it is.