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
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
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;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
"Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage..."
- Ambrose Bierce
ABOUT
THE POEM:
meaning:
Of course it's obvious that this poem is somewhat of a love poem, expressing
how beautiful this woman is that Lord Byron is looking at. She combines
opposites (or extremes) in perfect proportions in her looks and in her
personality. Whether it is a true declaration of love or a statement
of admiration (of her beauty) is left to the reader, since it's known
that this poem was about his cousin, Mrs. Wilmot, whom he met at a party in a
mourning dress of spangled black.
mechanisms:
The poem opens with a line that doens't have punctuation (enjambment): it runs over to the
next. Not only that but the next line has a different kind of meter. Poets
use this mechanism together with enjabment to attract attention to certain words. For
example in the fourth line, the word "meet" is emphasized. It is an important word
in the poem because it is the premise of the entire poem. Opposites "meet" in this woman.
Just as enjabment and a change in meter are joined as mechanisms in this poem, the
unlikely pair of darkness and light meet in this woman.
Also, this poem makes use of alliteration, the repeating of the first letter of a word to
get an easy-reading effect. Look at the second line: "Of cloudless climes
and starry skies."
imagery:
Lord Byron describes a night (associated with darkness) with bright stars (light)
and compares this woman to that night. She brings together these opposites in her beauty
and creates a "tender light." Not a light like the daytime, since he describes that as gaudy
(showy in a vulgar way), but a light that "heaven" doesn't even honor the daytime with.
Byron describes light and dark coming together in her appearance (or "aspect"), as in
her dark hair ("tress") and the light complextion of her face. But her also says they meet
in her eyes. The eyes are often associated with a person's soul, and reveal the heart. So he
is suggesting that opposites meet in her soul as well.
Note also, that Byron says that if this darkness and lightness wouldn't be in the right
proportions ("One shade the more, one ray the less"), her beauty wouldn't be completly
ruined as you might expect. He says that she would only be "half impaired," and thus
still half magnificent.
ABOUT
THE PAINTING:
the
artist:
Sandro Botticelli was a Florentine (Italian) painter, and well-known and succesfull
during his career. The name "Botticelli" mean "little barrel" in Italian. It was
originally the nickname of his older brother. For some reason it must have rubbed off
on Sandro.
Although Botticelli's career was a succes, near the end of his life the High
Renaissance style emerged and he was old news. He had no real followers except for
the son of his own master. Botticelli died in obscurity but after his death his
position returned when Ruskin and some Pre-Raphaelites announced interest in his works.
the
painting:
It's clear from the title of the painting that it represents the birth of the goddess
Venus. During the Renaissance in Italy, the people tried to recapture the glory of
ancient Rome and mythology became very popular, even among the educated common folk.
They were so convinced of the wisdom of the ancient Romans that they believed the myths
must contain some profound truth.
The scenario of the painting is clear: Venus comes to life from a seashell and it brought
to shore by wind-gods. An Hour or a Nymph is waiting for Venus to get to shore, and is ready
to receive her with a robe.
Notice however that Venus' neck is strangely unnatural and her face is unproportionally small.
Not only that but her shoulders
are oddly steep, and her left arm is sort of pinned on to her body rather than being
truly connected. Also, Botticelli goes against the style of the time by making the
figures not solid models who are grounded, but rather outlined figures who float on the
foreground.
But Botticelli uses these irregularities to emphasize her beauty. She is so beautiful you
wouldn't even really notice the imperfections. Botticelli's composition also makes Venus
seem extremly delicate and tender, like a true gift from Heaven.
LINKS:
LORD BYRON:
BEST LINK: The Germ
An online documentary of sorts, about the Romantics, the Pre-Raphaelites & the Bloomsbury Movements. Also
with a complete page on Lord Byron and everyone who was in some way connected/ related to him.
You'll be surprised how some authors and artists of that time knew eachother.
This site doesn't have standard biographical info, but the good juicy
gossipy stuff. It has a click-through system built in ("click here to continue"), that made me not able to stop
reading. Very good site!
If you want to go directly to the Lord Byron page, it's
here.
Other wise (and the suggested thing to do) is to follow the link below.
http://www.walrus.com/~gibralto/acorn/germ/index.html
Englishhistory.net: Lord Byron
Title of the page basically sums it up: a comprehensive study of his life and works.
http://www.englishhistory.net/byron.html
George Gordon,
Lord Byron
Page of the Arkansas State University English Department. Includes journals/letter excerpts, selected works and some bio info.
http://www.cas.astate.edu/engphil/gallery/byron.html
Selected poetry of George Gordon, Lord Byron
University of Toronto site with pretty extensive index to online poetry of Byron, but no additional info.
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/byron.html
Byronmania
"A web site of fact andfiction George Gordon Lord Byron, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale."
Mostly under construction, but nonetheless worth mentioning.
http://www.byronmania.com/
BOTTICELLI:
Olga's Gallery: Alessandro Botticelli
Pretty large collection of his works, and most accompanied by some extra information.
http://www.abcgallery.com/B/botticelli/botticelli.html
Artchive: Sandro Botticelli
Probably best biographical information, with some images of his works as well.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/botticelli.html
Sandro Botticelli
California State University, Hayward, site about Botticelli, with some of his works,
and a short biographical synopsis.
http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Botticelli.html
Webmuseum: Botticelli, Sandro
Biographical text, with links to his work. One of the better pages to find bio information.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/botticelli/
Botticelli Room
"The Uffizi Gallery, founded in Florence in 1581, by the De Medici family, is one of the oldest museums in the world.
The Web guide contains pictures, comments, biographies and a glossary of artistic movements and techniques."
http://www.televisual.it/uffizi/room_10.html
RANDOM:
The Corpse of Lord Byron
Yes, this is a webpage about the corpse of Lord Byron, and all the things that happened
with it after Byron himself had no more use for it.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~androom/dead/story002.htm
Astrocartography of Lord Byron
A web page about Lord Byron's astrological details. There are just some weird people
out there with too much time on their hands, that's all I have to say about that.
http://members.tripod.com/astro_couteau/b_byr.htm
Bar Lord Byron
Cafe/bar in Portugal, named after the man himself. They serve up cocktails with poetry
by Byron on their site.
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7757/byron.html
Hotel Botticelli Maastricht
Hotel in Maastricht, the Netherlands, named after the artist.
http://www.botticellihotel.nl/
Hotel Lord Byron
Hotel in Rome, named after you-know-who. Apparently very fancy hotel.
http://www.venere.com/it/roma/lord_byron/
Botticelli Interactive
Multimedia company in Boston, MA.
http://www.botticelli.com/
