She walks in Beauty Critical Appreciation.pdf

Appreciation of the Poem She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron.

1. 2.7 She Walks in Beauty
Critical Appreciation

The poem ‘She Walks in Beauty’ is written by famous
English romantic poet, George Gordon Byron, also known
as Lord Byron. He composed ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’
which made him immensely popular in England. ‘She
Walks in Beauty’ is a short, lyrical poem celebrating
female beauty. The poet describes an unnamed woman
who has an exceptionally striking appearance. The poet
describes not only her external appearance but also her
inner goodness which makes her so captivatingly
attractive.
The poet begins by describing the beauty of an unnamed
woman. He refers to her only by the pronoun ‘She’ as he
says ‘She walks in beauty’. One of the themes of the
poem is beauty. The poet praises each feature of the
woman- her eyes, her raven (black) tress, her soft
cheeks, her calm brow and the lovely colour of her skin.
The poet speaks of harmony, he speaks of the perfect
blend of day and night, light and dark.
The poet speaks of the ‘mellowed’ or tender light which
makes her beauty so rare, delicate and astonishing. The

2. poet compares her to the night describing her serene
and perfect beauty. The other theme is the inner beauty
which is what brings out the outer (external) beauty.
There is a divine sight to her beauty which is pure and
innocent. This innocence on the inside causes the
external beauty which is being described.
‘She Walks in Beauty’ is a rhyming poem consisting of
three stanzas with 18 lines each. The rhyme scheme of
the poem is ababab. The poet uses Similie, “She walks in
beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry
skies”. By using Antithesis the poet stresses on balance,
there is harmony of light-‘dark and light', 'tender light’,
‘gaudy light’ and ‘one shade the more, one ray the less’.
These lines emphasize that beauty is not only physical
and external but inner beauty is something which is more
important. The mind is calm, and the heart is innocent
and this causes the outer beauty which is seen by the
poet. The poet also uses Personification, Alliteration, and
Metaphor to enhance the beauty of the poem. The poem
is lyrical, has a steady rhythm and the language is rich
with poetic devices.
The message of the poem is about the importance of
inner beauty which is almost a divine thing that will make
external beauty possible.

3. I like this poem as it makes us realize that one should
look deeper than just outward appearance and
appreciate beauty in its entirety.