Lord Byron: She walks in Beauty analysis

Writing Prompt: Imagination and Nature were important elements in the Romantic movement. Choose one of the poems assigned in this module (Wordsworth or Byron) and, for your mini-essay post, write about how the poet uses imaginative thinking or humanity’s relationship to nature in his work.

“”: http://www.bartleby.com/101/600.html.It is a poem which praises the beauty of a woman. As its title might suggest, She Walks in Beauty; presents beauty more precisely as a sort of harmony that is as beautiful as it is uncommon. The poem starts by making the reader wonder about the magnificent beauty of the woman. The speaker doesn’t say the woman walks well but walks beautifully(1-3). It helps to sense the uniqueness of the woman’s appearance, so big, so impressive that she seems to have an aura or cloud surrounding her(6). This shows what it claims to be a sanctuary for such a Magnificence: the physical presence the woman(9).

Beauty takes and plays into a delicate balance the key elements in the poem, brings all that is best of dark and bright together. This, in reality, is the key point in the poem, because of the exquisite Harmony and visual Balance of her appearances, that the beauty of this particular woman is almost unique. Thus, the poem indicates that beauty is perfected in harmony. And as the poem progresses, the delicate and fragile equilibrium that can be compromised by even the slightest changes is apparent(14).

As shown, the harmonious beauty of women is not a regular phenomenon. Beauty thus also represented by the air as something divine or mystical, perhaps similar to the discovery of a comet or eclipse—this unusual feeling of rareness(5-6). Besides, the poet further describe beauty as rarer as the equilibrium and essential for life, as it is so delicate. The speaker demonstrates how even one hue or light that is out of place in the interplay between light and darkness on a woman’s hair will upset her beauty—being that it would be half impaired(8).

External beauty becomes a symbol of inner beauty. In effect, this inner beauty enhances the outer beauty as these expressions is compared to the facial expressions of the woman. Their outward beauty and their inner goodness are each amplified by a feedback sequence. Naturally, it is up to the reader to determine how compelling this idea is. In any case, outer beauty at least represents inner emotion in the opinion of the speaker, and both of are in harmony.

She walks in beauty is a deft(9) but essentially very traditional poem to celebrate the beauty of a woman. The woman is everything we might hope to praise from a typical loving poet: lovely, pure, serene(17). We have no practical disapprovals of conventional beauty, but instead complete support for its aesthetic qualities(10). Little do we know about the character, because Byron doesn’t fill up the small details, as she remains an admirable silent thing(13-15). The nearest to feeling her personality is when her theories are spoken about – even then, (Byron assumes) the reasoning is just pure and beautiful(18).

Analysis: Song of Myself Sections 1-5, lines 1-98

Writing Prompt: many critics consider Walt Whitman to be one of the first truly original American poets. He certainly started something new that set him apart from all the poets that came before him. Choose an element that you find interesting in one of the poems assigned in this module from Leaves of Grass or Drum-Taps. For your mini-essay post, point out the element and explain why you find it interesting.

Poems by Walt Whitman you can write about from

Leaves of Grass:

“Song of Myself”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174745″I Sing the Body Electric”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174740.In first section we learn that there are three essential themes: the concept of the self, the identification of the self with the other-self, and the relationship of the poet to the elements of nature and the cosmos. Houses and rooms depict civilization; perfumes mean individual selves, and the atmosphere symbolizes the universal self. Self is conceived as a divine force that remains relatively permanent in and through the evolving flow of ideas and experiences that make up its conscious existence. Self consists of thoughts, memories, psychological states, and spiritual perspectives. The idea of self is the most critical feature of Whitman’s mind and art.

In the second section, the self is unique and universal to Whitman. A person has himself, while the world has a universal or celestial self. The poet wishes to retain the identity of himself, but he wishes to combine it with the worldly self-involving the identification of the poet with the human race and the spiritual union with God, the Absolute self. Thus, both physical and spiritual ecstasy for the poet creates a sense of caring brotherhood to God and mankind and to the infinite universe, even the most common objects, such as Trees, ants, and stones.

Whitman, in his third and fourth pages, chides the “talkers,” the “tripers” and the “askers.” They are the ones who spend their time dreaming of the beginning or the ending,’ and of the ‘new date, exploration, innovation, culture. More significant is the everlasting progeny of the universe.’ “Not an inch . . . is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.”

On the fifth section it is a clear example of Leaves of Grass’ stylistic features. The style of Whitman represents his personality. He wrote to his biographer Horace Traubel: “I always assume that the leaves are just an exercise in language. Words have a “natural” and “spiritual” importance for Whitman. Symposium terms unite the natural with the divine, so he uses many discussions. He likes to use foreign words, as well. Yet another unique aspect of the literary technique of Whitman is the catalogue. To indicate and increase the impression of a poetic concept, he uses various pictures, typically taken from nature. The images do not seem to be clear; yet in reality, they have a fundamental underlying unity that normally includes a spiritual principle which gives the seemingly disconnected images or scenes meaning and coherenceADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1002/9780470996812.ch29″,”ISBN”:”9781405120937″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Larson”,”given”:”Kerry C.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”A Companion to Walt Whitman”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2007″]]},”page”:”471-483″,”title”:””Song of Myself””””