She walks in beauty

• "best of dark and bright"

  • only ever sees the good in her - beautiful on inside and outside
  • 'dark" connotes stars in the sky - she glistens and stands out- angelic-'bright' her beauty radiates, making dark nights brighter and beautiful
  • Byron uses a contrast of "dark and bright" throughout the poem - polar opposites come together in this woman to create perfection and balance
• 'A heart whose love is innocent!'

  • she can do no wrong
  • metaphorical language suggests the woman's inner peace is of rare and valuable quality
  • 'innocent' since she's never been in love or because her love is virtuous and pure
  • could suggest that by writing the poem in the order he does shows the process of falling in ‘love’ with someone and he realises at the end that he does ‘love’ her
• 'One shade the more, one ray the less'

  • repetition creates sense of balance and symmetry - admiration
  • contrast between 'shade' and 'ray', and 'less' and 'more', draws attention to the idea that the smallest changes to her beauty can have a significant impact on it
  • antithesis - contrast between opposite ideas - emphasising the fragility and delicacy of her beauty
• context

  • Byron was a leading figure of the Romantic movement and liked to break conventions
  • Byron’s private life was very public and he was known for his many relationships with different women
• structure

  • At the beginning of the poem, Byron expresses his admiration for the woman and as the poem progresses he then speaks about her inner ‘goodness’. He ends the poem with the idea of ‘love’, an experience that perhaps brings together both the external and internal beauty