all quiet on the western front
...rew Melodies 1815, contains one of Byron’s most famous lyrics, which is “ She Walks in Beauty”. After having a relationship with his half-sister Augusta, and presuming that her daughter Medora was his, Byron proposed to Annabella Milbanke. “They married in January 1815; their daughter Augusta Ada was born at the end of the year, but a few weeks latter Annabella left Byron to live with her parents, amid rumors of insanity, incest, and sodomy”(The Penguin Group, 3). “In 1819 the first two cantos of Don Juan were published in an expensive edition meant to forestall charges of blasphemy and bearing neither the authors nor the publisher’s name” (The Penguin Group, 3). In April 1819, Byron met his last attachment Teresa Gamba Guiccioli who was married to a man three times her age. When Teresa’s father and brother were exiled, she followed them. Byron, then went with her to Pisa. “A serious illness in February 1824, weakened Byron; in April he contracted a fever, treated by further bleeding, from which he died on April 19 at the age of thirty-six”(The Penguin Group, 4). She Walks In Beauty 1 She walks in beauty , like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light 5 Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 2 One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; 10 Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling place. 3 And on the cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 15 But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! She Walks in beauty can be defined as a lyric poem because of its many characteristics. There are many lyric forms expressed in it. Lyric poetry is often short, expressing the intense feelings and thoughts of the speaker as clearly shown throughout this poem. She walks in beauty demonstrates brevity, melody and an emotional intensity in all of its emotional expressions; thus making a relationship of what typically characterizes a lyric poem. The poem consist of three six-line stanzas in which a description of the woman’s beauty of a woman is prominent. This is a woman with whom Byron is acquainted. The development of the poem clearly shows the voice through which the poem is spoken, This poem was written as a final product showing how her presence provided for inspiration. The speaker of “She walks in Beauty” feels a highly admiration for this woman to the point that he thinks he is in love with her. The way she walks, her harmonious movement, and her brightness lead the speaker to contrast her with the beauty of the night; which reflects her self control, steadiness, and balance. This is clearly understood when Byron speaks of her image. This is noted on his voice. Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” shows a perfect harmony whit its alternating rhymes. The poem has a new rhyming set in each stanza, ababab, cdcdcd, efefef, matching almost perfectly the last three syllables of each line. In the firs stanza, the last syllables of the words night, skies, bright, eyes, light and denies have a perfect matching rhyme on its ght and ies endings. In the second stanza the words less, grace, tress, face, express and place also have a perfect rhyme on its last three syllables ess and ace. In the third and last stanza the words brow, eloquent, glow, spent, below and innocent show an almost perfect rhyme. The first two stanzas of the poem clearly show exact or perfect rhymes: “ that is the rhyming words share corresponding sounds and stresses and a similar number of syllables” (Di Yanni, 524). On the other hand the last stanza of the poem is an imperfect or slant rhyme, because of the slightly imperfection in the syllables matching at the end. for example like, each line like brow, glow and below, in lines thirteen, fifteen, and seventeen. The verse, “She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies” serves as an example of the meter the author used throughout the poem. Having in mind that meter is the count of the stresses felt in a poem’s rhythm, She walks in beauty shows four stresses on each line which is commonly called a tetrameter. “The unit of poetic meter is the foot, a unit of measure consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables”(Di Yanni, 533). because the four stressed syllables on each line are preceded by an unstressed syllable the poetic foot is iambic. By this it is seen that the poem is written in an iambic tetrameter form. The tone encountered in Lord Byron’s poem, is the tone of voice of an inspired man by love and physical attraction. It is also romantic in the way that he talks of the beauty of a woman in terms of the beauty of the night, a clear and starry night. He also has a tone of admiration of a lady for whom he perceives as innocent, well balanced, with dign...