She Walks in Beauty
She walks in Beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and brightMeet in her aspect and her eyes:Thus mellowed to that tender lightWhich Heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,Had half impaired the nameless graceWhich waves in every raven tress,Or softly lightens o'er her face;Where thoughts serenely sweet express,How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
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,A mind at peace with all below,A heart whose love is innocent!
Words in this poem
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- tress n.
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. Se]
- serenely adv.
- In a serene manner; clearly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
She Walks in Beauty is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3, Project Gutenberg ebook #21811; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lord Byron, She Walks in Beauty, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/she-walks-in-beauty.html, id L23935.
Form and metre
She Walks in Beauty is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABAB nightA · skiesB · brightA · eyesB · lightA · deniesB
- 2 ABABAB lessA · graceB · tressA · faceB · expressA · placeB
- 3 -ABABA brow · eloquentA · glowB · spentA · belowB · innocentA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She walks in Beauty, like the night | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of cloudless climes and starry skies; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And all that's best of dark and bright | 8 | ········ |
| Meet in her aspect and her eyes: | 8 | ···/···· |
| Thus mellowed to that tender light | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| One shade the more, one ray the less, | 8 | ········ |
| Had half impaired the nameless grace | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Which waves in every raven tress, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or softly lightens o'er her face; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Where thoughts serenely sweet express, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, | 8 | ········ |
| So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The smiles that win, the tints that glow, | 8 | ········ |
| But tell of days in goodness spent, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A mind at peace with all below, | 8 | ········ |
| A heart whose love is innocent! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.