Poetic Tides Through Time

She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
         Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
         Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
         Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, on ray the less,
         Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which 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 check, 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!

                             George Gordon Byron [1788-1824]

From: The Home Book of Verse by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1917, pg. 383

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Day 15 - "She Walks In Beauty"  was composed by Lord Byron, one of the Romantic poets. George Byron was born in London with a clubbed right foot but was raised in Aberdeen. He was influenced by a Presbyterian nanny and he had a tumultuous childhood. He was infatuated with his cousin and his half-sister and there are questions regarding his sexual orientation. Though he had a complex personality, he was often considered the leader of the Romantic poetry movement. This poem was composed following a meeting he had with a female cousin. More about him can be found here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/lord-byron.

  Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.~~Robert Frost