She Walks in Beauty

By Lord Byron

Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron, 1788-1824) was a leading English Romantic poet known for his passionate and rebellious spirit and vivid and expressive poetry. His poem “She Walks in Beauty” is one of his most famous short works, celebrating a woman’s serene and delicate beauty. The poem combines elements of light and dark to create an image of perfect harmony and grace, reflecting Byron’s skill in capturing the essence of beauty through lyrical language.

“She Walks in Beauty” is a famous poem by British Romantic poet Lord Byron, first published in 1815. The poem praises and seeks to capture a sense of the beauty of a particular woman. The speaker compares this woman to a lovely night with a clear starry sky and goes on to convey her beauty as a harmonious “meeting” between darkness and light. After it discusses physical attractiveness, the poem then portrays this outer beauty as representative of inner goodness and virtue.

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!