Analysis of She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron

Introduction

I'm writing to discuss the poem titled "She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron" for easy understanding_ this post will touch on the background of the poem, the structure, the themes, the poetic devices, etc.

I believe students and teachers of literature would find this post very resourceful, most especially those searching or asking "what is the moral of the story She Walks in Beauty?", "what is the summary of She Walks in Beauty?", "what is the theme in the poem She Walks in Beauty?", etc.

Background of the Poem 

In accordance with the information gathered from Wikipedia website, I have discovered that the poem titled "She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron" is a lyrical love poem inspired by the beautiful outlook and personality of a woman named Anne Beatrix Wilmot-Horton, a lady the botanist community named a plant (Hortonia) after her.

Wikipedia revealed to me that Lord Byron became inspired to craft the poem after attending a certain party on the 11th of June, 1814 in London_ the party which also had in attendance the wife of Sir Robert Wilmot (Anne Beatrix Wilmot-Horton), a woman with unusual mesmerizing beauty. It was also noted that Sir Robert Wilmot and Lord Byron were cousins. 

About the Poem 

She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron is a love poem about the voice of the poem praising the beauty of a certain feminine figure which he might possibly be in love with or merely crushing upon. The poem shares similarities with "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare. 

The beautiful nature of the feminine gender in question was compared to a cloudless night. The writer also described his fondness by taking into cognizance her beautiful face, her eyes, her smiles, and other behavioral attributes such as her innocence. 

The Stanzas

(Stanza 1) She walks in beauty like night without a cloudy sky; with the mixture of darkness and light in every part of her eyes, creating an extravagant brightness of a daylight. (Stanza 2) The shades of light over her face are namelessly gracious enough to portray sweet thoughts of love and purity. (Stanza 3) Her cheek, her brow are so soft, and calm, and eloquent with smiles that reveal  her glowing face is full of endless happiness, peaceful humility and innocence of heart.

The Structure 

Structurally, the poem titled She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron is a 3 stanza lyrical poem in form of iambic tetrametre_ though the poem can also be considered an ode for its eulogizing context. 

It has a third person point of view, with an end rhythm scheme of ABABAB CDCDCD EFEFEF to create a melodies flow. The diction is simple, the arrangement is climactic and the descriptive tone conveys affection and fondness strong enough to put one in the mood for appreciation, acceptance and delight. 

The Themes

Few of the themes embedded in the poem are human beauty, innocence and humility, beauty of nature, contrast between light and darkness, etc.

The theme of human beauty is expressed by the passionate speaker in the Poem. The woman's beauty was likened to a cloudless night between line 1 and 2. 

Besides the beautiful description of the lady's eyes and smiles, the stanza 2 of the poem quoted below further epitomized the facial beauty of the lady the was compose for:

 "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." 

The theme of innocence and humility. The concluding stanza of the poem "She Walks in Beauty" pointed out the lady's humility and innocence through the smiles on the lady's face_ (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).

The theme of nature's beauty. Through a symbolic lens, the poet examined the beauty in nighttime, sky, heaven, day, etc. The readers could see how such soft and calm time could influence the beauty of someone_ the ray, the shade, all influenced the beauty of the lady based on the poet's opinion. 

Poetic Devices

Few of the poetic devices in the poem are simile, imagery, alliteration, antithesis, synedoche, repetition, oxymoron, enjambement, etc. 

There is a simile in line 1 "she walks in beauty like night" likewise the use of so many imageries such as "cloudless climes and starry skies" in line 2, "tender light" in line 5, "half impaired the nameless grace" in line 8, "dwelling-place" in line 12, etc. 

There are instances of other figure of speech such as alliteration in line 2 (cloudless climes and starry skies), in line 6 (gaudy day denies), in line 8 (had half impaired), in line 11 (serenely sweet). Antithesis is found in line 7 (one shade the more, one ray the less). Synecdoche in lines 17 and 18 (a mind at peace with all below/ a heart whose love is innocent). 

Repetition in the Poem are "how pure, how dear" seen in line 12 and "so soft, so calm" seen in line 14. "of dark and bright" in line 3 seems oxymoron. Enjambements also existed in the poem. 

About the Poet

Lord Byron with full name Lord George Gordon Byron, the 6th Baron is an English poet born in London, England who lived between 1788 and 1824.

In Conclusion 

The poem was influenced by the beauty of Anne Beatrix Wilmot and therefore "She Walks in Beauty" is a love poem with lyrical rhyming and stanza. The theme has been discussed as well as the poetic devices.

Now that you have had an awesome read, feel free to drop your opinion about the post in the comment box for additional information. And do share the post to other social media platforms. 

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Similes In Night by Wole Soyinka

Introduction 

This post aims at revealing some of the similes in the poem titled "Night" by Wole Soyinka. The similes pointed out will be explained for ease of understanding by readers of this post. 

About the Poet

Wole Soyinka is a Nobel Laureate for literature. A Nigerian activists, scholar, poet, novelist, playwright, actor, musician, etc. 

Akinwade Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, popularly known as Wole Soyinka  was born 13th July of the year 1934. He was born in Aké, Abẹ́òkúta, Ogun State, Nigeria. 

About the Poem

As a poet, one of the poem crafted by him is "Night". A poem that could be considered an ode, based on the fact that he revealed the strengths of night time and its effects on both humans and nature in general. 

Similes in the Poem

"I bear no heart mercuric like the clouds" (line 2). This use of simile was chosen by the poet to create a direct comparison between the poem-speaker and the clouds, most especially when it comes to radiation ability.

By employing the phrase "heart mercuric", Soyinka revealed that human hearts wasn't luminous while the heart of the clouds possessed such ability. A mercuric heart would have given the poem-speaker the ability to contend the oppressive darkness nighttime placed upon him. 

In line 4, with the expression that went thus "Woman as a clam, on the sea's cresent." The poem-speaker compared his vulnerability to that of a woman while creating a direct comparison woman and a clam. 

Clams are bivalve molusc, known to be willingly sitting at the shores or beds of rivers or seas. Similarly, women are also known to be willingly sitting with chores in the house. In a nutshell, women and clams are both submissive beings. 

 

"Submitting like the sand, blood and brine" can be found in line 8 of the poem titled Night by Wole Soyinka to express the poet's helplessness and unquestionable inferiority towards nighttime. 

Soyinka directly compared his state of submissiveness to those of sand, blood, and brine. They are substances that can acquired by anyone and made use of. 

"Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves" [line 12]. The line striked comparison between the effects of nighttime on the poem-speaker and night thieves. 

Thieves at night wore masks and moved in silence. So also so the nighttime hid the face of the poem-speaker and also kept him in a state of sad silence. 

Conclusion 

Anyone who has read this post keenly, from beginning to end, would have acquired some orientation regarding the poet, the poem and the similes embedded in the poem. 

Over to you the reader of this post. The comment box is yours to drop your thoughts regarding this post. Share to all social media platforms as well. 

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