I decided to write my second blog post on “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. I interpreted this poem as an ode to a particular woman’s beauty, perhaps the speaker’s love interest. I found that the poem describes the women’s beauty as rare and delicate. Byron employs a simile to compare the women to a night sky saying, “She walks in beauty, like the night//Of cloudless climes and starry skies”(1-2). A cloudless night sky where one can see the stars is both gorgeous and rare. I thought that this comparison revealed how the speaker views the woman’s beauty as just as perfect and rare as this intersection of cloudless and starry. I believe this view of the rarity of the woman’s beauty is also depicted when the speaker says, “One shade the more, one ray the less,//Had half impaired the nameless grace”(7-8). I interpreted this line to mean that any adjustment in any way would throw off the woman’s beauty. This woman’s appearance is just so rare and perfect that it balances the “shade” and “ray” perfectly before falling out of perfection.

Not only is the woman’s beauty perfect to the speaker, but I felt as though the speaker views the woman as heavenly. The speaker says, “Thus mellowed to that tender light //Which heaven to gaudy day denies”(5-6). The speaker is saying that this soft and delicate light/beauty is so rare that it is not seen often only in heaven. To the speaker the woman is so beautiful that she must come from heaven. There is something so serene and perfect about this woman that she is almost too rare for the earthly world. I think that this comparison and viewing of the women is meant to portray her as being above the speaker in the speaker’s eyes. The speaker views her in a way that is similar to religious worship. Overall I think this poem is also meant to show that the woman’s external beauty also makes her internally pure. The poem says, “A mind at peace with all below,// A heart whose love is innocent!” (17-18). I felt as though this last line tied the poem together, expressing that the woman’s external glow reflects the brightness and pureness within her.