She Walks in Beauty (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

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She Walks in Beauty

Each GCSE poetry anthology contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem – printed in full – and asked to compare this printed poem to another. The exam is closed-book, which means you will not have access to the second poem. This does not mean you need to remember every line from memory, but you do need to understand and remember aspects of the poem. Understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

The meaning of the poem
The ideas and messages of the poet
How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods
How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology

Below is a guide to Lord Byron’s poem 'She Walks in Beauty', from the Relationships anthology. It includes:

Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

Exam Tip

As part of the Relationships anthology, 'She Walks in Beauty' examines themes related to romantic love and desire. The exam question asks you to compare the way such ideas are presented in two anthology poems.

It is therefore as important that you learn how 'She Walks in Beauty' compares and contrasts with other poems in the anthology rather than understanding the poem in isolation. See the section below on “What to compare it to” for detailed comparisons of 'She Walks in Beauty' and other poems in the anthology.

Overview

In order to answer an essay question on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

The poem in a nutshell
A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Lord Byron’s intention and message

'She Walks in Beauty' in a nutshell

'She Walks in Beauty', written by the poet George Gordon Byron, can be considered a tribute to a woman’s beauty. The poem is a third-person idealised description of the woman’s inner and outer beauty.

'She Walks in Beauty' breakdown

Lines 1–2

“She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;”

Translation

A woman, unidentified, is described as “walking” in beauty, suggesting she is graceful and very beautiful
She is compared to a clear night sky

Byron's intention

The poem immediately begins describing a beautiful woman
Byron uses natural imagery related to night to allude to the woman’s mysterious nature

Lines 3–4

“And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;”

Translation

The woman is described as possessing the best features of “dark” and “bright”
This can be seen in her attitude and her eyes

Byron's intention

Byron describes a female who is mysterious but also radiant
He implies the woman possesses alluring qualities that capture the dark and the light

Lines 5–6

“Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.”

Translation

The woman appears to calm the brightness of the “gaudy” or glaring day
She is related to gentle light and heaven

Byron's intention

Celestial imagery and hyperbolic praise elevates the woman’s status:

She makes the bright sun of the daytime appear lurid and loud

This connects the woman closely, as suggested in the first line, to the night and more “tender” light

Lines 7–10

“One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;”

Translation

The woman is described in terms of light and dark again, referring to the perfect “shade” or “ray” of light that falls on her hair (“tress”)
The woman’s black (“raven”) hair catches the light or it lights up her face “softly”

Byron's intention

Byron uses contrasting imagery related to dark and light, night and day, to show, perhaps, the harmonious nature of the woman
This could, however, also imply she has a complex nature, hiding aspects of herself while presenting as “bright” and “soft”

Lines 11–12

“Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.”

Translation

The woman is described as not only beautiful in appearance but also in thought
Her thoughts are expressed quietly and calmly (“serenely sweet”)
The speaker describes her mind as a “dear” and “pure” place

Byron's intention

Here, the woman is presented as a sweet and calm female
This description conforms to the female characterisations and idealised romances found in literature describing courtly love
This suggests the poem pays tribute to romanticised love

Lines 13–16

“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,”

Translation

The woman’s face (her “cheek” and “brow”) is “calm” and “soft”:

The speaker adds that she communicates very well (perhaps with her smiles)
The woman’s smiles are persuasive, they “win” people over with their “glow”
Yet she is good and spends her time being kind and virtuous

Byron's intention

Byron’s description of the woman emphasises her calm tenderness
The woman’s virtuous nature is seen in her smiles (perhaps Byron wants to stress she is not seductive purposefully)

Lines 17–18

“A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!”

Translation

The poem ends praising the woman’s peaceful mind and her innocence
The last line exclaims how pure her love is

Byron's intention

Byron’s poem ends with a dramatic expression of admiration for the woman’s innocence
In this way, the poem may present a woman who is not in a relationship and out of reach as such, or it may imply the woman’s love is pure and genuine

Exam Tip

Your exam question will ask you to compare how poets present ideas about love in the poem given to you on the exam paper and one other from the Relationships anthology. It is therefore a good idea to consider the way themes of love are presented across the two poems and begin your answer with a close focus on the way the poems explore the nature of love. This demonstrates that you have understood the poem and the poet’s intention. For example, “Lord Byron presents ideas related to romanticised love. Similar themes can be found in…”

Writer’s methods

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have.

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Lord Byron’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

Form
Structure
Language

Exam Tip

Examiners specifically state that they are not looking for as many techniques as you can find in the poem(s). In fact, it is better to understand the themes in the poem and analyse how the language and structure has conveyed ideas.

Identifying sophisticated techniques will not gain you any more marks, especially if these techniques are only “spotted” and the poet's intentions for this language are not explained. Instead, focus your analysis on the reasons why the poet is presenting their ideas in the way that they do: what is their message? What ideas are they presenting, or challenging?

Form

Lord Byron’s poem 'She Walks in Beauty' is a romantic tribute to an unnamed woman. An unidentified speaker describes her purity, her allure and her tenderness in romantic imagery related to nature.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Idealised love	The poem is a three stanza tribute to a woman: Each stanza describes different aspects of the woman from her beauty to her thoughts and behaviour	Byron’s poem centres around an unidentified woman: The close focus is suggestive of obsession, especially as the speaker does not refer to themselves or hint at the nature of their relationship
	The poem is told in third-person: “She walks” and “her face”	This implies a distanced relationship, perhaps alluding to unrequited love or desire
	The romantic poem praises a woman who is not addressed or named, contributing to the idea of a speaker fantasising about love

Structure

The poem’s regular and sophisticated structure makes the poem an example of traditional romantic poetry. It also contributes to the idea of harmony.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Romantic love	The poem’s regular rhythm is created with iambic tetrameter: This contributes to a sense of order and harmony	Byron’s poem pays tribute to the woman’s peaceful and calm nature with its soothing, predictable rhythm
	The rhyme scheme is a regular ababab throughout	The perfection and constancy of the rhyming structure reflects the poem’s themes about a perfect woman who is peaceful and serene
	The poem ends with an exclamation mark: “A heart whose love is innocent!”	Byron’s sudden exclamation to end the poem elevates the idea of love with a fervent expression of admiration
	Byron’s poem is a sophisticated and traditional poem that presents a speaker’s love and the idea of romance as joyful and soothing

Language

The poem uses contrasting imagery to highlight aspects of the woman’s appearance and character. Her purity is conveyed by relating her to nature and the universe.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Harmony and beauty	Byron’s natural imagery is highlighted with alliteration and sibilance such as in “cloudless climes” and “starry skies”	Typical of Romantic poetry, Byron relates love to the beauty of nature: His image of a perfect sky alludes to the woman’s perfect beauty
	Moreover, the images of dark and light are repeated through the poem: The woman is the “best” of “dark” and “bright” He describes a “shade” and a “ray”, and the “glow” of her smile against her “raven tress”	Byron may be alluding to the woman’s mysterious nature as he describes her in relation to night: However, the contrasts can suggest a sense of harmony and symmetry
	Byron’s universal expression of a woman’s beauty relates her to celestial imagery: Her “tender light” seems to soften the “gaudy day” He refers to “heaven”	Byron’s poem praises the woman as if she is connected to the universe: As the first line says, she is “like the night”
	Byron’s poem uses romantic imagery that compares the woman’s beauty to nature and suggests she represents harmony and perfection

Exam Tip

Try not to separate “language”, “form” and “structure” into three separate elements in your answer. The best answers deliver an integrated comparison of the themes and ideas in this and the other poem you choose for comparison and focus on the relevance of the methods used by the poet(s).

This means it is better to structure your answer around an exploration of the ideas in the poems, commenting on elements of language, form or structure that contribute to the presentation of these themes. Stay focused on the task, and then choose your comments based on the theme named in the question.

Context

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about George Gordon Byron or facts unrelated to the ideas in 'She Walks in Beauty'. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Byron that relate to romantic love and themes of desire.

This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Byron explores:

Romantic love
Idealised love and desire

Romantic love

Byron is considered a Romantic poet:

The poem 'She Walks in Beauty' was written in 1815 at the height of this movement
It focuses, typically, on the senses and personal emotion:

The poem ends with an exclamation of admiration
The woman is described with “A mind at peace with all below”

Romantic poetry emphasises the power of the natural world:

In this poem, the woman’s beauty in particular is compared with the night, “starry skies” and “heaven”

Idealised love and desire

The inspiration for Byron’s poem is said to be a beautiful woman at a fashionable London party
That the lady was in mourning, dressed in sparkled black, perhaps indicates why she is “like the night” and seems mysterious and serene
This also signifies a love that is unrequited:

The distanced third-person “she” contributes to the idea of unresolved love

The poem was part of a collection called Hebrew Melodies that was to be set to sombre religious music:

This can be seen in the regular rhyme and reverent nature of the poem

Exam Tip

Remember, AO3 is only worth up to 5 marks in this question. You will be expected to demonstrate your understanding of the relationship between the poem and the context in which it was written in an integrated way, throughout your answer.

Context should be connected to the theme named in the task, and can cover aspects of genre (related to poetry), social, literary and historical context, as well as the author’s influences. However, writing a whole paragraph about Lord Byron is not an integrated approach, and will not achieve high marks. Instead, use contextual comments to support your ideas.

What to compare it to

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about love or relationships, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that 'She Walks in Beauty' explores the ideas of romantic desire and idealised love, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

'She Walks in Beauty' and 'How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43)'
'She Walks in Beauty' and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'
'She Walks in Beauty' and 'Valentine'

For each pair of poems, you will find:

The comparison in a nutshell
Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

Exam Tip

You will be expected to explore the poem(s) in depth and make perceptive comments about the way themes are presented and conveyed by language, form and structure. It is therefore important that you have a thorough knowledge of key ideas, such as perspective, form, imagery or structure in all of the poems, rather than just memorising a series of quotations. It is also essential that you not only write about the named poem, but compare it to one other in the anthology. Only writing about the poem given on the paper will severely limit your marks.

'She Walks in Beauty' and 'How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43)'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Lord Byron and Elizabeth Barrett Browning elevate and idealise romantic relationships. However, while Byron’s poem about a mysterious woman suggests a silent or unrequited love, Barrett Browning’s poem is a direct address to a specific listener.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both speakers describe idealised romantic relationships
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43)'
	Byron’s poem focuses solely on describing a woman, suggestive of fascination or intense attraction	Barrett Browning’s poem centres around a first-person speaker’s expressions of intense love: As the speaker describes their love the repetition of “I love thee” hints at obsessive love
	Byron elevates the idea of romance: The woman is described with hyperbolic language: “So soft, so calm” and “How pure, how dear”	Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem similarly elevates the idea of love: The speaker says: “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/My soul can reach” They add: “I love thee with the breath,/Smiles, tears, of all my life”
	The poem uses celestial imagery to compare the woman to “heaven” and “starry skies”: The woman’s purity is emphasised at the end of the poem: She has “A heart whose love is innocent!”	In Sonnet 43, too, religious references imply the speaker’s love is pure: The speaker loves with “childhood’s faith” that seems to be stronger than the love for “lost saints”
	The poets elevate the idea of romance to present intense feelings of love and desire

Topic sentence	Both poems describe love with reference to constancy and enlightenment
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43)'
	Byron’s poem employs sophisticated alternating rhyme in regular stanzas to present a constant rhythm and a controlled speaker	Barrett Browning uses a sonnet to allude to romantic traditions: The sonnet follows a traditional and sustained abba cdcdcd rhyme scheme
	Byron’s natural imagery describes both dark and light: The woman has the “best of dark and bright” He shows this in oxymoronic lines: “every raven tress” that “softly lightens o’er her face” Byron alludes to the woman’s “tender light” in contrast to the “gaudy day”	Barrett Browning, too, uses natural imagery related to the light: The speaker loves the listener in “every day’s/Most quiet need” The speaker refers to contrasting ideas of light to highlight the constancy of their love: “by sun and candle-light”
	The woman is described as serene and calm, and Byron implies the speaker’s admiration of her purity: She spends her “days in goodness” and she is “at peace with all below”	Barrett Browning, too, hints at the way love is connected with virtue: The speaker refers to the levels their “soul can reach” and they love “purely” They refer to “ideal grace”
	Both poems explore ideas about the connection between goodness and true love

Differences:

Topic sentence	While Byron’s poem hints at silent or unrequited love, Barrett Browning’s poem is an expressive direct address to a lover
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43)'
	Byron’s third-person description of an unnamed woman, “she”, suggests the love is not realised	Sonnet 43, however, repeats a first-person speaker’s account of their love throughout the poem addressing “thee” (you)
	The speaker does not refer to themselves or their emotions, conveying a sense of detachment: Instead, the poem describes a woman as if someone is watching her, “And on that cheek, and o’er that brow”	The speaker, here, implies a listener with whom they are intimate: The rhetorical question to start the poem implies this is a reply: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
	Byron depicts a silent, distant admiration for a woman while Barrett Browning offers a lover an account of how much they value their relationship

Exam Tip

It is a good idea to outline your choice of second poem in your introduction to your response, with a clear overview of the overarching themes within both poems. You can then use the theme to move between both poems to provide the substance to illustrate your arguments. However, this does not mean that you cannot focus on one poem first, and then the other, linking ideas back to the main poem. You should choose whichever structure suits you best, as long as comparison is embedded and ideas for both texts are well-developed.

'She Walks in Beauty' and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'

Comparison in a nutshell:

This is an effective comparative choice to explore the presentation of relationships and romantic love across traditional Romantic poems. However, while Byron’s poem is more like a tribute to a beautiful woman, Keats’s poem tells a melancholic tale about a strange relationship.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems portray love as romantic and ethereal
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'
	Byron uses natural imagery to describe the perfection of the woman in his poem: She is “like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies” and “dark and bright” He contrasts images to conveys complexities in her beauty: “One shade the more, one ray the less”	Keats uses contrasting natural imagery to describe the romantic relationship: The knight is on a “cold hill” when the “harvest” is done They meet in the “meads” and make flower garlands in a “fragrant zone”
	Byron uses celestial imagery: The speaker is “mellowed” by the woman’s “tender light” like “heaven to gaudy day”	Keats similarly makes religious references to elevate romantic love: The lady feeds the knight “manna-dew”
	In 'She Walks in Beauty' and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' the speakers both explore the spiritual and sensual nature of the women they desire

Topic sentence	Both poems can be considered classical and traditional in their presentation of romance
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'
	Byron’s speaker idealises the lady’s beauty and purity: She is “So soft, so calm, yet eloquent” She has “smiles that win” and speak of “goodness” and “serenely sweet” thoughts	The lady in the poem is a typical female character in medieval romantic poetry: The speaker idealises the lady’s appearance: She is described as “Full beautiful” and her “hair was long” She “made sweet moan” She expresses her feelings for the knight: “‘I love thee true’”
	Byron’s speaker alludes to the darker side of the woman he describes: He shows her contrasting nature: “And all that’s best of dark and bright” He describes her hair as black with animal imagery: “raven tress”	Keats describes her as a typical damsel in distress at times, such as in the line “she wept and sighed full sore”: However, she is also shown as a femme fatale She seduces and lures the knight (and other men) to their death
	Both poets explore the strong attraction the speakers feel for a beautiful and mysterious lady in their Romantic poems

Differences:

Topic sentence	'She Walks in Beauty' ends with a peaceful resolution, while "La Belle Dame sans Merci" has a tragic conclusion that presents desire as dangerous
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'
	Byron’s poem has a regular structure with ababab rhyme scheme across stanzas to show a calm, reflective speaker	Keats’s poem raises darker themes in the disrupted rhythm of the lyrical ballad: Alternating rhyme creates a flowing narrative at times Other lines, such as with “brow” and “rose”, create an ominous tone
	Byron uses iambic tetrameter to create a regular and controlled rhythm: This conveys a positive tone The poem ends with an exclamation of joy: “A heart whose love is innocent!”	In Keats’s poem, the regular rhythm is disturbed with short lines like “And no birds sing”: This line ends the poem with a dark conclusion, the knight is alone and dead Keats uses caesura and exclamations to present warnings, such as in “—Ah! woe betide!—”
	While Keats’s romantic poem dwells on the brief love of a dying knight, Byron’s poem is a universal expression of admiration and joy

'She Walks in Beauty' and 'Valentine'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both poems examine romance as mystifying, but Byron’s poem is a silent fantasisation, while Duffy’s poem is a direct address to a lover.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems present romantic relationships as mysterious
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'Valentine'
	Byron’s description of a mysterious woman who is “like the night” presents, perhaps, the confusing or hidden aspects of romance	Duffy’s poem, too, suggests romantic relationships can be complex, with mystery: She uses the metaphor of an onion to present love as layered
	Byron uses contrasting imagery to present hidden elements to the woman: She is both “dark and bright” She has dark hair (“raven tress”) that “softly lightens o’er her face”	Duffy’s imagery offers contradictory, oxymoronic descriptions of love: Instead of a “red rose or a satin heart” she offers her lover an onion The gift is a “moon wrapped in brown paper” that “promises light” The speaker says the onion brings “tears” like a “lover”
	The speaker observes the woman closely and implies desire: He comments on “that cheek, and o’er that brow”	Duffy’s poem uses a semantic field that connotes to physical love and lust: “Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips”
	The poems both comment on the powerful complexities of romance and desire

Differences:

Topic sentence	While Byron’s poem presents a silent speaker’s obsessive observation of a woman, Duffy’s speaker offers a lover their thoughts on romantic love
Evidence and analysis	'She Walks in Beauty'	'Valentine'
	Byron’s poem romanticises the lady as a serene, quiet and beautiful woman: Her tenderness is stressed: “So soft, so calm, yet eloquent”	Duffy’s speaker is “trying to be truthful” about love: The speaker refers to the disruption it can cause: “It will make your reflection/a wobbling photo of grief”
	Hyperbolic language shows romantic love as idealised, particularly as the poem ends: She is at peace with “all below” She has a “heart whose love is innocent!”	Duffy, on the other hand, ends the poem with sensory language that implies a sinister warning: “Its scent will cling to your fingers,/cling to your knife.”
	Byron’s poem uses a traditional rhyme scheme and structure to present a controlled, sophisticated presentation of romance	Duffy’s poem is unconventional, with irregular stanzas and line lengths, offering a disruptive, unstable monologue
	Byron’s poem offers an examination of idealised desire, while Duffy’s poem is a pragmatic and modern conversation about love

Exam Tip

Choose whichever poem you are able to make the most in-depth comparisons with in the exam. For example, you could choose to compare the presentation of romance in 'She Walks in Beauty' and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'. Or you might wish to explore the idea of idealised romance in 'She Walks in Beauty' and 'How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43)'. What is important is that you view the poems thematically, with a clear emphasis on relationships. This will give you a better framework in which to write your response in the exam.

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She Walks in Beauty (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

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Author: Sam Evans