She Walks in Beauty

“Beauty” by Tony Hoagland was written in 1998. In this poem, Hoagland expresses his feelings on how women care too much about physical appearances. Throughout his poem he tells the story through the eyes of a brother of a girl who learns to love herself for who she is. Hoagland’s poem stresses the importance that beauty goes deeper than the surface. Throughout his poem, Tony Hoagland uses many literary devices to perfect his poem. These devices include the message, tone, imagery, figures of speech, and personification.

The narrator of the poem begins with stating that “some kind of shadow was behind her/ she ran towards nowhere/ dark, empty, cold, stuck.” The poem depicts the

In Emily Dickenson's "We Grow Accustomed to the Dark," and in Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night," the poets use imagery of darkness. The two poems share much in common in terms of structure, theme, imagery, and motif. Both poems are five stanzas long: brief and poignant. The central concepts of being "accustomed" to something, and being "acquainted" with something convey a sense of familiarity. However, there are core differences in the ways Dickenson and Frost craft their poems. Although both Dickenson and Frost write about darkness, they do so with different points of view, imagery, and structure.

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

The story She Walks in Beauty is a story that describes “the perfect girl” to Lord Byron. Byron is very passionate about woman and describes in his eyes what the perfect woman would look like. It tells us what is important to guys, the appearance of a woman, what they notice first. In the story Byron states “ She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies”(line1-2). That line is stating that when a woman walks in, the man first notices how she walks, and that she looks mysterious. The way a woman carries herself is very important. It's good to be confident, a woman who is confident in herself shows it in the way she walks and carries herself. Byron makes it a point at the end of the story that his girl has to be innocent. He states “A mind at peace with all below, a heart whose love is innocent”(line 17-18). In other words byron is like a tiger, he is experienced. He likes girls who are like lambs, innocent, young, and simple. Just like the girl he describes in She Walks In Beauty.

To understand why Byron wrote in this way you must first understand his upbringing and the things he learned growing up. Byron, born on January 22, 1788, in Aberdeen England, was born to the very aristocratic and wealthy Catherine Gordon and highly-ranked naval officer, John

These three lines are perfect examples of the imagery within the poem because they contain an image of a river with its small peeks and waves trembling and glistening in the afternoon sun. All the while it equates the natural beauty of the river to the beauty that the young man sees in the youthful maiden.

Byron's diction in this poem is quite metaphorical. "She walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies" (lines 1-2 Norton 556). His use of imagery has allowed us to visualize an aura that surrounds this woman. The imagery he uses also brings together two opposing forces, darkness and light which works quite well together as one united force. We can visualize a dark sky filled bright stars, a perfect picture for an ideal evening, which can be compared to his picture of a perfect woman.

Although these poems have conflicting themes, they mutually share an appreciation of nature, specifically the night. In "She Walks in Beauty," the speaker is associating the qualities of a woman to the qualities of a night sky. This simile is introduced instantly in the first line, "She walks in beauty like the night." By doing so, Byron alludes to the comparisons that occur during the remainder of the poem. This leaves the reader wondering how the woman can compare to the night and forces him/her to continue reading. "So We'll Go No More A-Roving" also has the night play a key visual aspect. Byron begins and ends the poem by speaking of the bright moon.

figure of force and he followed his success with a series of ?Eastern? tales that added to his aura: one of them, The Corsair 1814, written in ten days, sold ten thousand copies on the day of publication?(The Penguin Group, 2). Hebrew Melodies 1815, contains one of Byron?s most famous lyrics, which is ? She Walks in Beauty?. After having a relationship with his half-sister Augusta, and presuming that her daughter Medora was his, Byron proposed to Annabella Milbanke. ?They married in January 1815; their daughter Augusta Ada was born at the end of the year, but a few weeks latter Annabella left Byron to live with her parents, amid rumors of insanity, incest, and sodomy?(The Penguin Group, 3). ?In 1819 the first two cantos of Don Juan were published in an expensive edition meant to forestall charges of blasphemy and bearing neither the authors nor the publisher?s name? (The Penguin Group, 3).

     “She Walks in Beauty” starts off from a traditional picture of a lady as fair and bright. It links with the brightness of daylight, in its comparison of the mistress to the night. “The distinctive quality of the poem derives not from any departure from the norm but from a graceful elaboration of the conventions of compliment” (Seifter, 82). Avoiding unoriginal or obvious similies, Byron uses metaphors which expresses the idea of a quiet and slight glow. “The mistress like the night/ Of cloudless climes and starry skies” (ll 1-2), not pitch dark but glimmering with a diffused light” (Seifter, 82). She is like a portrait in “chiaroscuro”, her face is copied through an interaction of light and shadow.

Beauty has been a word that people use to described objects, things and most important people. Beauty can be defined in so many ways. The play “Beauty” written by Jane Martin has more than just one meaning. The author uses beauty to be her main objective that makes almost every situation in the play revolve around “beauty.” Being that beauty is considered something almost all women want and it can lead to devastation when you get greedy and envious about it, as it did to both Carla and Bethany.

The poem opens with the speaker comparing humans to "clouds that veil the midnight moon" (Line 1). The clouds move radiantly across the sky and cover the light of the moon. The words "speed", "gleam", "quiver" and "streaking" personify the cloud image. Shelley describes the cloud's actions as a metaphor for human actions, "How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, / streaking the darkness radiantly!" (Lines 2-3). He believes that humans go through life with speed, not taking time to rest; like clouds at night, we do not last forever. Shelley’s use of the word of "veil" instead of "covers" creates a sense of purposefully hidden light. In lines three to four of the poem the wondrous sight is eventually extinguished by the darkness, "- yet soon/ Night closes round, and they are lost forever.” By using this image of the night Shelley shows the cycle of change and demonstrates human morality. The speaker is pointing out that humans have short lives on Earth and regardless of how radiantly we may shine, we are like clouds at night that are overshadowed.

The poet also repeats himself once again by talking about the contrast between dark and bright, presumably because this woman has the best of both sides, the best of dark and the best of bright. He mentions that the best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and eyes, it would seem that her eyes represents some kind of harmony between dark and bright, while her aspect is her appearance. This could mean that when Byron met this woman, her eyes might have been dark but seemed to sparkle and therefore creates harmony and beauty.

She Walks in Beauty is a poem by Lord Byron. Byron was an English poet who spearheaded the second generation of Romantic Poets. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest English poets. This