Summary of She Walks in Beauty and A Red, Red Rose - Essay Example

Perceptions of Love Written in 1814, “She Walks in Beauty” is one of the most famous poems by Lord Byron. It is a three-part poem, which describes the beauty of an unidentified woman. “A Red, Red Rose” was written by Robert Burns in 1794. This poem talks of a women that the narrator loves. Both poems are short, between 16 and 18 lines in length, yet have become well known examples of romantic poetry. While the poems are similar in topic, they differ in style, narration and poetic form. The two poets present very different ideas and perceptions of what love is and how to express it. Form is an important aspect of a poem and it influences the way in which the words are perceived and the images that are created. “She Walks in Beauty” makes use of iambic tetrameter. The poem is divided into three verses, each six lines in length. While this meter is consistent across most of the poem, the author also makes use of it to draw attention to particular parts of the poem. For example, the author uses metrical inversion to breaks from the iambic tetrameter in the fourth line, which has the result of making the reader focus on the way that the woman is talked about, in particular her eyes and her aspect. “A Red, Red Rose” is a ballad type poem that appears to have been written to be sung. Another difference between the two poems is the choice of narration. “A Red, Red Rose” is told from the narrator’s perspective, although no indication is given as to who the narrator is. The poem uses the pronouns “My” and “I” throughout, emphasizing that the projected emotions are that of the narrator, and potentially the writer. In contrast, “She Walks in Beauty” is told from a third-person, outside perspective. No indication is given concerning whose opinions are being given in the poem. This difference in narration and choice of wording shifts the focus from that of the narrator and his love (in “A Red, Red Rose”), to focusing solely on the women who is loved. Variations in style also give the two poems different overall images. “She Walks in Beauty” is a more formal poem. The language used more syllables, such as “eloquent” and “dwelling-place”. In contrast, most of the words used in “A Red, Red Rose” a short with the longest being the three syllable “melodie” or the two syllable “thousand”. Because of this, one would tend to read Burns’s poem faster, and the rhythm inherent in the rhyming choices and line length make it easy for the poem to be either chanted or sung. This makes it appear less serious, and more spontaneous. In contrast, the long lines and syllables of Byron’s poem make reading slower, and suggest that the writer, or the narrator, has spent a lot of time considering each word that he says. Both poems make use of metaphor to enhance the imagery that the authors are present. In Burns’s poem, he talks about his love being “like a red, red rose” (Meyer 1035, line 1), while Byron refers to the unknown woman as walking in beauty “like the night” (Meyer, line 1). In this aspect the poems are similar, yet, even in this situation, the descriptions in “She Walks in Beauty” are significantly more detailed. His initial simile is more than just “like the night”, instead he talks of how her beauty is similar to that of climes and stars. A poetic device that is limited to only a single one of the two poems is repetition. This is used frequently throughout “A red, red rose”, but not in “She Walks in Beauty”. Several times the author repeats a line or a variation of a line to emphasize a point. For example, at the end of the second verse, the author finishes with “Till a’ the seas gang dry”. He then uses this same line to start the next verse. The technique emphasizes the meaning of the line. In this case, the repetition is used to show that the narrator would love his woman, his “bonnie lass”, until the seas run dry. The use of “the seas gang dry” is a hyperbole further emphasizes the point gained by the repetition. This technique is not used in “She Walks in Beauty”. The lines in this poem are longer and more descriptive. The lack of repetition allows the author to present more information and more vivid imagery. Byron’s descriptions of the woman are very different from that of Burns. While Burns calls his love “fair” (Meyer 1035, line 5), Byron spends entire verses talking about different aspects of his love’s beauty. He talks of the way that “All that’s best of dark and bright; Meet in her aspect and her eyes” (Meyer, lines 3-4). Everything that Byron talks about is consumed with the woman that he loves. In contrast, Burns’s first verse can be considered in one of two ways. Either he is describing the woman that he loves by using the word love as a term of endearment, or he is using the term to describe the love that he feels. However, the remaining three verses are solely on the love that the narrator feels. Through differences in style and structure, the two poems convey different ideas about love and alternative perceptions about what is important. While “A Red, Red Rose” focuses on the love that that is shared and the deep emotional connection between two people, “She Walks in Beauty” tells of a distant admiration and longing for a woman. The formal language, precise pentameter and descriptive style of “She Walks in Beauty” emphasize distance. The thoughtful, carefully worded verses indicate that the man spends a lot of time in thought about the woman. In contrast, “A Red, Red Rose” resembles a young, passionate love. The narrator feels the need to focus on his emotions, repeating much of what he says to emphasize on key components. Thus, while both poems are considered examples of romantic poetry, the authors appear to have differing definitions of what romance is, with Burns considering it to be love itself, while Byron appears to perceive love as admiration from afar. Works Cited Meyer, M. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th ed: Bedford/St Martins, 2011. Print.  Read More