"She Walks in Beauty," by George lord Byron is a love poem (though not strictly because it is more of celebratory about a woman’s ) about an attractive woman and all of her outstanding features.
The poem is constructed from a perspective which lets the reader to set a rhythm through the poem. For example look at “She walks / in beau / ty like / the night. ” By following this rhythm the reader is able to discover the features of the woman’s beauty. These features have an internal dimension as well as an external one.The poem further focuses on a woman whom he compares with several aspects of beauty through a dramatic shift in tone from beginning to the end of the poem.
This papers explores into the nature of the Byronic hero in this poem. The character nature of the hero and the outstanding features are better understood by looking at the features of the woman first as a matter of importance. Discussion The woman in the poem walks in beauty and the persona judges her basically on her personal merits.She has positive qualities which are extolled although the poet alludes that the woman has a silhouette image on one side which is also attractive too. At the start, the poem begins with a comparison of the beauty of the woman to a starry cloudless night.
The poet candidly shares this when he says, “…all that best of dark and bright/ Meet in her aspect and her eyes”. This kind of beauty reveals the woman as having a intricate and multifaceted splendor which is not just an ordinary romantic beauty.That still is not enough if you don’t consider the fact that the woman has kind of superficial beauty which is surpassed by another or other kinds of beauty. This beauty beyond the surface is revealed in her pure thoughts and feelings, her innocence, her passivity and “her nameless grace. ” The hero clearly and selflessly brings out the physical beauty of the woman by creation of direct comparison of the woman with physical visual aspects like the stars and the night which are compared with the vale.
The outer lovely visible beauty or appearance, the persona claims, is a symbol of the woman’s inner splendor and purity. Another special quality in the woman is that the heaven is able to identify her. She is visible like the cloudless night and splendid like the stars. The nature of this woman is brought out through constant use of imagery and rhythmic tones thus bringing out a strong evaluation of the character in terms of the physical world.Amazing is the fact that despite all this characteristic beauty of the woman the persona who stands to be hero appears to be very sensitive as to see all these features in the woman and intelligent too. In addition, this hero seems to be respectful and smitten by the absolute elegance of the woman.
By bringing out all the features of the woman, the persona is meant to be admired and also to garner respect. This admiration and respect arise from the extended respect and admiration the persona shows toward the fine lady. This aspect qualifies the persona for a hero.The knowledge this hero has over the woman’s personality is also a worth point to note about his nature; he even knows the thoughts of the woman, that they are serenely sweet and that the heart of the woman is also innocent. To crown his heroic image, the persona selflessly praises the woman for her features of beauty though he seems to be swept off by this beauty.
Conclusion Through the features of the woman in Byron’s poem “She Walks in Beauty”, it is clear that the persona establishes a clear standing as a hero in the poem and therefore is able to overcome the waves of this beauty which could be impossible under ordinary circumstances.
