Summary and composition

Here we discuss the summary and composition of the poem “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron.

Summary

The poem “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron is a praise to the appearance and the beauty of an unnamed woman. She is described in antithesis, having both a dark and a light side. Her beauty is quite striking, as it is very rare for a woman to have such contrasting characteristics. The woman’s physical beauty is thoroughly described in the first two stanzas while her inner beauty is touched upon in the last stanza. Here, the poet indicates that her physical beauty is connected to having an innocent heart and a good soul.

Composition

When beginning to analyse a poem, it is a good idea to deal with both its outer composition (stanzas, verses and graphical expression) and its inner composition (beginning, subdivision and course).

Outer composition

The poem “She Walks in Beauty” is a three-stanza poem, each stanza having six lines. The rhyme has an exact pattern throughout the entire poem, foll...