She Walks in Beauty Flashcards
Who is the poet of She Walks In Beauty?
Lord Byron
Summarise the poem
- Speaker describes an unnamed woman’s beauty as she passes by, conveying his wonder at her ethereal, innocent aura and appearance
- Speaker tries to capture the beauty of the woman, and her enchanting effect on others
- Although it may generally be classified as a love poem, the poet never actually declares his love, instead concentrating on the subject’s captivating attractiveness and purity
State the themes of the poem
Love
Lust
Appearance
Beauty
Innocence
Humanity
Unrequited love
Describe the form of She Walks in Beauty
- Lyrical in tone and nature, focusing on abstract ideas of beauty and innocence
- Written in iambic tetrameter + has an unwavering ABABAB rhyme scheme
- Written in third person, talking only about the woman and implicitly conveying the persona’s adoration, but possibly objectifying her as no more than a vessel of beauty
What is the effect of the iambic tetrameter and the rhyme scheme?
→ perhaps expressing the conviction of the speaker’s thoughts
→ regularity links with her consistent beauty
RHYME SCHEME:
→ reflective of her internal and external beauty
→ mimics subject’s walk, but also her faultless perfection
Describe the structure of She Walks in Beauty and its effect on the poem
Three stanzas, equally as long as each other (all 6 lines), creating a poetic form that is generally adopted for hymns
Balanced alternating rhyme scheme
Every stanza ends with an endstop
Exclamation: emphasises contrast between the pair } they will never be
What is the effect of the equally long stanzas?
→ reflects the religious imagery within the poem
→ poetic structure used to effectively mirror the poem’s content as a love poem
What is the impact of each stanza ending with an endstop?
→ could be speaker’s struggle or hesitation as they try to explain their feelings towards her
→ OR snapping back to reality to stop and idealise her
Describe the language used in She Walks in Beauty
Alliteration
Similes: used to illustrate the woman’s beauty
Sibilance: (primarily the repetition of ‘s’ sounds) combine to give texture and harmony to the poem
Assonance
What language devices add to the musicality of the poem?
- alliteration
- assonance
- sibilance
What is the effect of the sibilance?
Creates a soft, whispery sound which reflects the speaker’s starstruck state of mind
State any motifs, symbols and themes in the poem,
- Appearance
- Light vs Dark: contrasting imagery (ANTITHESIS)
- Sense of wonder
What is the impact of the theme of appearance?
Appearance:
→ avoids conventional symbols to describe the subject’s appearance, e.g.: flowers on a summer day
→ less conventional appearance that is described
What is the impact of the light vs dark imagery?
→ several references to day and night + aspects of the natural world that create light (stars) + an inner light of radiance
→ repeated use of opposites may reflect the confusion of the speaker’s mind as he tries to come to terms with trying to describe the woman’s overwhelming beauty
How is the poet’s sense of wonder expressed throughout the poem?
→ not directly expressed but comes from nature of the comparisons he makes between the woman and the aspects of the natural world
