GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

[1788–1824]

She walks in beauty

Born in London to an aristocratic family, George Gordon, Lord Byron was educated at the best grammar schools and at Cambridge. He early became a public figure, as much for the notoriety of his personal life as for the popularity of his irreverent, satiric poetry. Among his scandalous affairs, the one he was rumored to have had with his half-sister forced him into European exile in 1816. His political life was equally flamboyant: he began his career in the House of Lords with a speech defending the working classes, and he met his death in Greece as the result of a fever he contracted while fighting for Greek independence. Byron published a volume of poetry while at Cambridge, but fame and popularity came with later volumes of poems, notably Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–18) and Don Juan (1819–24). Despite Byron’s acknowledged literary greatness and popularity, he was deemed morally unfit for burial in Westminster Abbey.

1

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.

2

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.

3

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!