She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron(1788–1824)

Hebrew Melodies, 1815

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 mellow'd to that tender lightWhich heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,Had half impair'd the nameless graceWhich waves in every raven tress,Or softly lightens o'er her face;Where thoughts serenely sweet expressHow 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!

From Hebrew Melodies (1815), via the English Wikisource transcription. That edition printed the title and a roman numeral above each stanza; they are omitted.

Public domainThis poem is in the public domain. You may read it, copy it, recite it and publish it without asking anyone.

About the poem

Byron is said to have written these lines after seeing a cousin of his in mourning, in a black dress covered with spangles. Hence the opening image: a beauty that «walks like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies», made of the best of dark and bright at once.

The poem belongs to the Hebrew Melodies (1815) and is an un-Byronic kind of praise: no scandal, no irony, only calm. The beauty he describes is not merely physical — a smile, a blush, a tress — but the outward sign of a mind at peace and an innocent heart. Three sestets of an almost musical serenity.