Beauty Within and Without

She Walks in Beauty was written by George Gordon, Lord Byron, an English poet during the early ordinal century. The poem falls within the genre of lyric poetry in which the poet expresses his thoughts and imaginations (Clugston, 2010, section 11. 3). Romance is the central emotion in the poem however, it is governed by a stem of principles which metaphorically balances inside values with sheer external beauty. Being married for many years, my company with the poem was in looking back to the moments when I used similar stamps of romantic poetry to communicate my affections for my wife during the early stages of our engagement.I too found familiarity in the meaning of the last stanza of the poem which has an near identical meaning to a line from the closing speech of one of my favorite romantic comedies written by William Shakespeare entitled, The Taiming of the Schrew. She Walks in Beauty embodies both piquant content and form using contrasting opposites however, its theme th at external beauty is a reflection of inner goodness has a valuable message for ball club that real beauty is a combination of inner goodness and outward appearance.I was engaged by the content of the She Walks in Beauty through its take care of realism created by the speaker as he is intently focused on a vision of sheer beauty while also recognizing qualities of virtue and innocence. His main convention for holding this image throughout this eighteen-line poem is by contrasting opposites such as the dark with the light or the night with the day. For example, both opposites are brought together in the first two lines of the poem aided by the most obvious setting of a clear and starry, oonlit night in lines 1 and 2 of stanza 1 She walks in beauty, like the night followed by Of cloudless climes and starry skies and over again in line 3 he also discriminates opposites with dark and bright (as cited in Clugston, 2010, section 11. 3, stanza 1). Again in line 7, he compares opposit es between shade and ray and between more and less and again between lines 9 and 10 he compares ravens with lightens (Clugston, 2010, section 11. 3, stanza 2). His skill here in doing this type of contrasting is quite remarkable and non actually the modal(prenominal) style of comparing two like items used during this romanticism period in history.The content was very engaging however, I also found the form of this piece of poetry to be engaging by use of metaphors, enjambed lines, and the whole thought of the poem reflecting the theme throughout with keen observations of inner and outer beauty. For example, he begins to comment on the blend of her morale attributes in lines 11 and 12 where a word picture is used to caseize her mind. He says her thoughts (line 11) are a dwelling place (lines 12) that are both pure and dear (Clugston, 2010, section 11. 3, stanza 2).Lord Byron makes good use of enjambed lines in the opening of the poem because there should not be a break after line 1. Instead the reader should continue to the end of line 2 without pause which when read thus, a musicality is brought out that makes the first two lines sound as effortless and beautiful as the charrs remarkable appearance. Since the poem is about a womans effortless beauty it is quite cleaver of the poet to assign a rhythmic meter that is balanced with her appearance. The poem is set in limbic tetrameter with an ABABAB frost scheme (Shmoop Editorial Team. November 11, 2008). She Walks in Beauty Rhyme, Form & Meter. Retrieved May 16, 2011, from http//www. shmoop. com/she-walks-in-beauty/rhyme-form-meter. html). Both the content and form were appealing to me however, I had a most remarkable connection to the last stanza regarding its meaning. The most appealing aspect of stanza 3 is that it is central to the theme that inner goodness is a reflection of external beauty.I found that this theme is also thematically represented in a speech made at the end of William Shakespeares roman tic comedy entitled, The Taiming of the Schrew. During the last scene of the play, the character of Kate played by the late Elizabeth Taylor while scolding two companions regarding how and why they should reverence their husbands spoke these words, Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth . . . But that our soft conditions and our police wagon Should well agree with our external parts (SparkNotes Editors, 2002, Analysis Act V, scene ii). This statement is a perfect parallel with the theme for She Walks in Beauty which is that inner goodness is a reflection of external beauty. She Walks in Beauty has wonderful content and form and the poet maintains a sense of realism throughout while memory the reader focused on a positive theme that inner goodness is a reflection of external beauty. Though it was not the norm to compare opposites in poetry, Lord Byron chose to explore this side of literary writing. Moreover, She Walks in Beauty is one of the most memorable forms of lyric poe try ever created crediting Lord Byron as one of the Romantic periods outstanding poets.ReferencesClugston, R. W. (2010).Journey into literature. San Diego, California Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).She Walks in Beauty Rhyme, Form & Meter.Retrieved May 16, 2011, from http//www.shmoop.com/she-walks-in-beauty/rhyme-form-meter.html SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on The Taming of the Shrew. Retrieved May 16, 2011, from http//www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/ shrewmouse/