An Explication of She Walks in Beauty

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An Explication of She Walks in Beauty

Many Romantic poets embrace the concept of self -expression through the use of imagination to convey their personal visions of love and life. The power of emotion is evident in Lord Byron's poems. It can be possible that light can be emitted through the darkness of night. In his poem, "She Walks In Beauty", Lord Byron epitomizes the balance between two opposing forces. The two forces involved are the darkness and the light at work in a woman's beauty both internal and external. Throughout the poem, Byron uses imagery through the visual senses that allows us to observe the symmetry between a woman's beauty and the mixing of the darkness and light.

"She Walks in Beauty" can be viewed as a love poem about a beautiful woman. It seems as though the poem is addressed to a lover. In fact, the poem was written about Byron's cousin, Anne Wilmot, who was dressed in a black mourning gown brightened with spangles. (Norton 556) This fact lends support to understanding the orig...

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...an implies that these attributes have created a perfect balance within her. The use of the opposites darkness and light has helped to create this balance. The language, rhythm, and the use of human characteristics have proved that external and internal beauty can be viewed on the same scale, as well as darkness and light.

Works Cited

George Gordon, Lord Byron. "She Walks in Beauty". The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Volume 2. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company. 2000 556

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