Poetry may be one of the most common vehicles for emotional expression, especially the expression of romantic love. From Milton to Shakespeare, poets have woven words that capture their audiences as well as the object of their affection. Often the verses that talented poets pen linger for years, even centuries, as love is a universal experience. Love poems also appeal to all readers, especially if their language is straightforward and accessible. Without resorting to complicated diction or convoluted metaphors, George Gordon, Lord Byron, communicates his affection and admiration for his female lover in "She Walks in Beauty." Moreover, "She Walks in Beauty" affects me personally because it reminds me of romantic ideals; like love itself, the poem is at once simple and evocative. Lord Byron does not use unnecessary symbolism to describe his love. Instead, he extends metaphors to color the nature of his emotions. The first line of the poem sets the mood for the entire piece: "She walks in beauty, like the night" evokes...
The first stanza is my personal favorite, as it encompasses a myriad of contrasts: "all that's best if dark and bright." Byron describes the subtle yet powerful beauty of the woman by contrasting her "tender light" to the "gaudy day." Besides being a lovely and strong image, this extended metaphor reminds me of the nature of aesthetic beauty. Physical attractiveness is not only the glossy, flashy kind evident in the mass media. Rather, the most attractive individuals possess a "mellow'd," "Tender light / Which heaven to gaudy day denies." Often, I cannot put a finger on why I find a person attractive, because it has more to do with that kind of subtle beauty. Sometimes people who have perfect features are not as appealing to me; they are like the "gaudy day." Thus, through his well-chosen words, Lord Byron perfectly reflects the uncluttered nature of true love.
Walks in Beauty Perfection in Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" George Gordon, Lord Byron was a British poet and a founding leader of the Romanticism in literature. Byron's works are infused with his dichotomous persona. Byron has been described as, "[dark] and brilliant, melancholy and vivacious, overtly sexual and sexually ambiguous [whose] shadowy side…has attained the stature of such dangerously attractive figures as Casanova, the Marquis de Sade, and Rasputin" (Pesta
Most individuals fail to appreciate life to the fullest because they concentrate on being remembered as some of the greatest humans who ever lives. This makes it difficult for them to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, considering that they waste most of their time trying to put across ideas that are appealing to the masses. While many did not manage to produce ideas that survived more than them, others
Being of nature, a supposedly passive entity does not necessarily stime the female poet, it can also, in Bishop's construcion, empower her as a speaker. Yet, there is one caveat -- for Bishop's poem remains tantalizingly silent about her own gender as a female. Thus, even as late as Bishop, the idea of an openly female speaker within a poem associating herself with nature, and seeing herself reflected in nature
pleasant and romantic world depicted in "She Walks in Beauty," Byron illustrates a dark, cold, and hopeless world in "Darkness." "Darkness" is an elaborately detailed poem that remains a testament to Byron's flexibility as a poet. When I consider the personal and external forces at work in Byron's life at this time, it becomes easier to understand how he could so masterfully create a world that was full of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "To a Beautiful Spring in a Village" represents the Romantic Movement in that the poet expresses appreciation for the "sweet stream." Coleridge is also expounding on his experience of the stream, which is an example of how the Romantic Writers wrote. The poem celebrates the stream with its "friendly banks" and "pebbled falls," focusing on every detail and finding joy in all of them. (Perkins 397) William
Fern Hill (Dylan Thomas) The "Poetry Explications" handout from UNC states that a poetry explication is a "relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationship of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem." The speaker in "Fern Hill" dramatically embraces memories from his childhood days at his uncle's farm, when the world was innocent; the second part brings out the speaker's loss of innocence and
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