COMMENTARY WRITING

POEM: She Walks In Beauty

As we take our first glance at this poem, She Walks in
Beauty, by Lord Byron, and proceed to read the title,
the first thought that comes to our mind is that this
poem is about a woman and the description about
herself and precisely, her beauty. The title itself shows
allurement about the woman. What title reflects is that
the poet is probably amazed by beauty of a woman and
is writing this piece of literature in order to show
dedication towards the beauty of the woman about
which the poet is writing this poem.
When we go through the whole poem and briefly
interpret the stanzas and the lines of the poem the first
impressions on our mind are all about how passionately
the beauty of a nameless woman is portrayed by the
poet. The way woman has been portrayed, shows the
exquisiteness of the woman. Moreover it makes us
think that what would have persuaded poet to describe
the beauty of a woman so artistically. The central idea
is something which is not a message or a moral or
containing some emotional feelings, rather it is a
descriptive poem about a glamorous woman. As we
proceed through the poem we also notice that the way
the lady is elucidated in is a unique one. So by now we
understand all about the theme of the poem which is a
womans mesmerizing description written by the poet
probably due a strong impact on him by the womans
beauty. What we think is a description of a woman is
the poets passion about the womans charm.
As we deeply explore the poem we are further
surprised by the words of the poet as he has
characterized the woman so beautifully. The poet has
related the woman with such cornered things that we
would never think about in our deepest thoughts. And
the poet has also justified his comparisons and
relations. Like the poet has written she walks in
beauty, like the night. Here the poet is comparing the
beauty with night. The poet probably wants us to think
that woman is like night in way that nights have a state
so magical and are filled with suspense. Similarly poet
also wants us to assume that woman also carries her
charm in a similar suspenseful way just like the night,
having her own deeply hidden beauty. Poet has used
simile for this. It is denoted by like the night.
Also, there is no punctuation mark after night and
hence the line continues of cloudless climes and starry
skies. This phrase/line describes the night which
indirectly depicts the qualities of the woman where
cloudless climes refer to clear climate showing the
ladys unquestionable beauty and starry skies referring
to her glowing personality just like brightly twinkling
stars. In the next line it is said all thats best of dark
and bright which means that darkness and brightness
both have some good qualities and the woman has the
best of those in context with her beauty. Irony is used in
this line by the mention of these opposite words. Also,
the light during the night time is said to be mellowed
and is shown more appropriate for the womans charm
rather than daylight which is too gaudy. Hence the first
stanza is all about how elements of night resemble the
womans beauty and enhance it.
 In the first two lines of the second stanza
the poet shows the perfection of the womans beauty
by stating that even if one shade was added or one
shade was taken away then it would make the beauty
half-impaired which refers to a possible damage to
the beauty. Also the poet calls that piece of allurement
nameless grace which implies that the poet wasnt
aware of the ladys name. And the grace shows how
delicate and soft the womans beauty seemed to the
poet. Also, the poet says this nameless grace waves in
every raven trees, Or softly lightens over her face
where raven trees refer to her dark black coloured hair.
The poet says that the grace of her beauty is all over
her fine hairs to her face. This shows that the beauty
gently continues from her dark hairs to over her face.
This is actually a tender piece of work where imagery
plays a major role. The reader is forced to imagine the
womans structure, her physics and her grace that she
displays. And we perhaps start viewing in a similar way
in which the poet does.
In the ending two lines of the second stanza, the poet
calls her face Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. It shows that
thoughts are expressed through the womans face in a
very calm and sweet manner. The poet has shown that
womans face is a pure shade/shelter for emotions.
Also, the poet seems to be impressed by the way
thoughts are expressed. He uses the words serenely
sweetly express to demonstrate how gracefully the
thoughts are toted as per the poets point of view. Also
poetic device: sibilance is used in this phrase since we
hear the s sound consecutively in words serenely and
sweetly as we sing along. The poet has excellently used
the poetic devices by using them at the right places
and making the poem sound very graceful and
exquisite. It is hard to tell whether this art has been
created so beautifully due to the poets skills or it is
because of him being hypnotized by the womans
beauty and writing this piece of literature out of his
heart in a flow of rhythm.
In the third stanza, we again see another divine piece
of imagery. In the first three lines of that stanza, the
poets persuasive lines force us to draw a picture of
womans various constituents in our mind. The poet
finds the woman to be very persuasive even though
she doesnt say much out loud. She is quiet and rather
elegant type. She doesnt speak much but her smiles
and healthy blushes glow over her cheek and brow.
That what poet sees and also wants us to imagine how
mesmerized poet is due to that. Poet has used very
delicate words for describing this quality of hers. Those
words are soft, calm and eloquent. The best part
of this poem is the delicacy included in the description
of beauty by the poet.
The poem ends in the third stanza with three heart
touching lines. In these lines the poet first time
describes about the womans good deeds, her peaceful
and calm mind and her pure heart apart from her
physical appearance her pretty face. The poet says
days in goodness spent which shows that the woman
truly a good woman and has spent time doing good
works. Also that she has a peaceful mind where from
the good thoughts come and most importantly an
innocent heart. This is depicted through the lines A
mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is
innocent! These ending lines are the most influential
to a reader as they disclose the fascinating truth that
the woman is not just pretty looking but is also the
owner of a good and pure heart. This is the evidence
that this is not a mere description of a woman
influenced by the attraction towards her glamorous
looks but is also about the real beauty within her. Poets
words make it clear that she is a woman with innocent
love.
If we see look at the structure of the poem, we figure
out that it is a usual poem. It has three stanzas which
with six lines in each of them. This makes the poem go
at a constant pace. The rhyming scheme is in ABABAB
format throughout. And it is a short lyrical poem.
The tone of the poem is pretty consistent throughout.
The poem keeps on disclosing fascinating facts about
the womans qualities one after another as we proceed
through it. The mood/atmosphere of the poem is
mesmerized with the flavour of the beauty and this
artistic piece of literature. There are rising meters in all
the lines if we technically talk about it. Iambic meters
are found throughout the poem.
As we conclude, we find that throughout the poem the
poet is just admiring the woman as per his vision. There
is no clue that the poet is falling for that woman but
seems to be amazed by the beautiful creation present
in front of his eyes. Yet the poem is very smoothly
written and surely soothes the readers mind.