She walks in beauty || Lord Byron

Reading time: 1min 40sec

"She walks in beauty" is one of the most famous and beautiful works of Lord Byron for all time. It is basically a short lyrical poem. It holds eighteen lines with four stanzas.

She walks in beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night

    Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

    Meet in her aspect and her eyes

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

    Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

    Had half impair'd 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.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

    So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

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!

...............

Here our poet has tried to explain the beauty of his beloved. His beloved's beauty has cast a spell on him and made him drunken. We will see the way our poet disclosed and drew his lover; it will seem he has covered him up with some sheets of fascination. He compared the beauty with "the night of cloudless climes and starry skies". It claims, his lover's beauty is pure and spontaneous, which he sees in every inherent element. He believes she represents the beauty of these.

Her aspect, her eyes, her brow, her cheek, her smile have bewitched our poet's mind. That is why he portraited them consummately also with his deep thoughts, cleverness, infatuation, and illusion. Sometimes he even became clueless to explain, so he invited such nameless adjectives for expressing his beloved's beauty. In this way, her beauty has followed those lines and shine there as well. And, he never missed a single moment to make it more decorative.

"A mind at peace with all below, / A heart whose love is innocent!"— this passionate, enamored lover has revealed the best part of his beloved which holds the most part of the beauty and glows mostly. That is her tender, amative heart. The heart is innocent and loves this mad guy selflessly. This heart states inside her mind which is always at peace. 

This poem coveys also the difference and relation between someone's inner beauty and outer beauty. The poet continuously has sketched her outer beauty except for the last two lines. While expressing about inner beauty, he mentioned "A mind at peace with all below". It states that her outer beauty, outer glow all live on her mind. They are the reflection of her inner beauty.