{"id":1216,"date":"2015-04-19T12:59:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T12:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/englishhistory.net\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2022-03-02T17:36:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T17:36:16","slug":"she-walks-in-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/byron\/poems\/she-walks-in-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"She Walks in Beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is perhaps the most famous of Byron\u2019s short poems. On 11 June 1814, Byron attended a fashionable party at Lady Sitwell\u2019s, and met \u2013 for the first time \u2013 his cousin, Lady Wilmot Horton. The young lady wore a <a href=\"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/victorian\/mourning\/\">mourning<\/a> dress and it was the contrast between her youthful beauty and her somber attire that sparked the poem. He wrote it that same evening, and it was included in his 1815 collection, <i>Hebrew Melodies<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>It is written in iambic tetrameter, a style typically used for hymns. This makes perfect sense for the <i>Hebrew Melodies<\/i> collection was intended to be \u2013 literally \u2013 a collection of Old Testament-themed melodies. Lyrics were to be provided by Byron, and music by Isaac Nathan, a Rabbinical student lately turned composer who was four years Byron\u2019s junior. Their collaboration was encouraged by Byron\u2019s friend (and banker), Douglas Kinnaird. Byron quite generously gave Nathan copyright to his \u2018lyrics\u2019. Nathan\u2019s music was intended to reflect the spirit and style of old Hebrew folk songs.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>She Walks in Beauty <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>by <a href=\"\/byron\/\">Lord Byron<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I.<\/p>\n<p>She walks in beauty, like the night<\/p>\n<p>Of cloudless climes and starry skies,<br \/>\nAnd all that\u2019s best of dark and bright<br \/>\nMeets in her aspect and her eyes;<br \/>\nThus mellowed to that tender light<br \/>\nWhich Heaven to gaudy day denies.<\/p>\n<p>II.<\/p>\n<p>One shade the more, one ray the less,<br \/>\nHad half impaired the nameless grace<br \/>\nWhich waves in every raven tress<br \/>\nOr softly lightens o\u2019er her face,<br \/>\nWhere thoughts serenely sweet express<br \/>\nHow pure, how dear their dwelling-place.<\/p>\n<p>III.<\/p>\n<p>And on that cheek and o\u2019er that brow<br \/>\nSo soft, so calm, yet eloquent,<br \/>\nThe smiles that win, the tints that glow,<br \/>\nBut tell of days in goodness spent,\u2013<br \/>\nA mind at peace with all below,<br \/>\nA heart whose love is innocent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is perhaps the most famous of Byron\u2019s short poems. On 11 June 1814, Byron attended a fashionable party at Lady Sitwell\u2019s, and met \u2013 for the first time \u2013 his cousin, Lady Wilmot Horton. The young lady wore a mourning dress and it was the contrast between her youthful beauty and her somber attire [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4017,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions\/4017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}