She Walks in Beauty

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1814

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

The poem has an organized form. It’s arranged neatly into three six-line stanzas or sestets. While some lines contain more words than others, the lines look even because of the meter. Byron uses iambic tetrameter, which means that, in each line, there are four iambs or four pairs of unstressed, stressed syllables. In Line 1, the reader doesn’t stress “she” but stresses “walks,” they don’t stress the “in” but stress the “beau” of “beauty,” and so on. The pattern continues throughout the poem, although it may require the reader to pronounce some words peculiarly.

The carefully constructed form and meter reinforce the fragile presentation of beauty. Like beauty, the poem comprises delicate parts, as syllables or the sounds words make can be easy to manipulate. More so, the beautiful woman pleases the speaker, which is why they look at her. The poem, too, has a pleasing ring because of the meter and the rhymes. Each stanza follows an ABABAB rhyme scheme, which creates melody and circles back to the name of the collection the poem is a part of, Hebrew Melodies. Like a fair number of songs or melodies, “She Walks in Beauty” rhymes.

Diction

Diction is a literary device that helps the poet create a tone, and, in “She Walks in Beauty,” the speaker’s vocabulary generates diverse tones. The positive words construct a celebratory tone, like when the speaker praises the woman for her “smiles that win” (Line 15). The words that link to light also add to the complimentary tone. Meanwhile, the words that connote darkness craft the poem’s mysterious tone. The manifold allusive terms, too, advance the enigmatic tone. The dainty language leads to the fragile tone, so “softly” (Line 10) and “soft” (Line 14) develop the woman’s delicate beauty.

The diction has a direct relationship to the themes. The language of nature—whether it’s the “starry skies” (Line 2) or the “raven tress” (Line 9)—fastens the theme of Beauty and It’s Multiple, Conflicting Layers to The Essential Power of Nature theme and advances a central Romantic idea that nature has a critical, unmeasurable impact on humans. The words that point to morals build on the theme The Link Between A Woman’s Appearance and Her Interiority. The abstract language, which occurs throughout the poem, maintains the mystification important to Romantic poets. The woman at the center of the poem remains veiled, as the speaker doesn’t assign her a name. Then again, perhaps the woman is immune from a precise appellation since her beauty is ephemeral and resists exact diction like a proper name.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a literary device where the poet uses similar-sounding words or words starting with the same letter to create a mellifluous sound. While the meter and the rhyme scheme contribute to the agreeable ring of Byron’s poem, the alliteration also helps the poem sound pleasant. The alliteration starts with “cloudless climes and starry skies” (Line 2) and continues with “gaudy day denies” (Line 6). “[T]he nameless grace / Which waves in every raven tress” (Lines 9-10) counts as alliteration as well due to the two “w” words and the similar sounds of “nameless and “tress” then “every" and “raven.

The alliteration reflects some of the fetishistic qualities of the poem. The sentimental and precious depiction of the woman turns her into a lovely object, and the delightful alliteration makes the poem akin to a pretty object. The poem is already small because it’s a lyric. More so, it’s already melodious due to the meter and rhyme scheme. The alliteration is like the cherry on top. It’s as if the poem, too, has to conform to conventional norms about feminine beauty.