Lord Byron (1788-1824) - Essay Example

Lord Byron (1788-1824) “She walks in Beauty” (1814) is one of the most impressive and critically acclaimed poems written by Lord Byron which introduces a woman of admirable beauty and elegance. Published as part of Hebrew Melodies in 1815, this poem was set to Jewish tunes and it was inspired by the poet’s life experience. One of the most successful tributes the beauty of art, Lord Byron’s “She walks in Beauty” attracted serious critical interest in the nineteenth century and the critics of the period exchanged their ideas of the poem through literary journals and letters.

Braham and Nathan (1815) offered one of the most notable contemporary commentaries on the poem, comparing Byron’s illustration of the beauty with that of the ancient poets such as Virgil, whose Venus was also known for her walk. Byron’s lady walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies…” (line 1-2) According to Braham and Nathan, the readers are totally at a loss to conjure the beauty of this lady who seems to affect solitude. “She is altogether a very non-descript kind of personage, whether we regard her as ‘walking like night’, or as having ‘all that’s best of dark and bright in her eyes and aspect’; but what the particularities of this lady have to do with Hebrew circumstances or characteristics … are supposed to give the poem its specific and appropriate character…” (Braham and Nathan, 205) Therefore, it is fundamental to recognize that the people in the nineteenth century who loved literature shared their ideas, analyses, interpretations, etc of their contemporary literary works in various effective means.

These criticisms and reviews are the basic scholarly literature for the modern attempts to analyze and understand these works. Work Cited Braham, J and Isaac Nathan. A Selection of Hebrew Melodies, Ancient and Modern with appropriate Symphonies and Accompaniments. The British review and London Critical Journal. London: Longman. 1815. P 205.