Though best known for his epic narrative poems about irresistibly moody protagonists, Lord Byron, also wrote shorter lyric poems exploring abstract philosophical ideals. “She Walks in Beauty” is just such a poem. Though written in 1814, it first appeared in print in Byron’s collection of the following year, titled Hebrew Melodies. As the volume’s title indicates, Byron intended for all the poems to be set to traditional Jewish tunes. This intention likely explains the brevity of the poems in Hebrew Melodies, the average length of which, as for “She Walks in Beauty,” is three stanzas. Whereas many of the poems in this volume allude to stories from the Bible’s Old Testament, others feature more general and abstract subject matter. “She Walks in Beauty” falls into this latter category. The speaker of this poem contemplates the beauty of a certain woman. He describes how, like a cloudless and starlit sky, her face marries shadow and light in a marvelous and beautiful harmony. His thoughts then shift to consider how the woman’s beautiful exterior implies an equally virtuous interior. Though it does focus on a particular woman, the poem arguably turns around the more abstract, philosophical matters of beauty, virtue, and the link between them.

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