George Gordon Lord Byron

Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)

Byron, you da man! Happy birth date, most famous of poets …

This poem below was written by Byron in 1814 in dedication to his young cousin’s marriage, Anne Wilmot. It’s said that Anne wore a black wedding dress that was covered in glittering spangles (hence the dark/light dichotomy riddled throughout the poem). ...

The poem’s structure is below:

Stanza: Sestet (i.e. 6 lines per stanza)
Meter: Tetrameter (i.e. eight syllables per line)
Rhyme Scheme: ababab (per stanza)



She Waks in Beauty

She walks in beauty like the night
of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
meets in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
had half impair'd 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 cheek, and o'er that brow,
so soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
the smiles that win, the tints that glow,
but tells in days of goodness spent,
a mind at peace with all below,
a heart whose love is innocent.