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3 pages/≈825 words
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Subject:
Literature & Language
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Essay
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Analysis of the Poem "She Walks in Beauty"

Essay Instructions:

Poetry Analysis Essay Assignment Worksheet
Directions: Select any poem written by an American author before 1970 that we have not covered in class. Copy and paste the poem onto the cover sheet of your essay, and write a five paragraph analysis. Be sure to have your poem approved by the instructor!
Begin your essay with an introductory paragraph that includes a brief biography of the author, and introduction to the poem  (subject, speaker, audience, etc) and a thesis statement that makes an observation or assertion about the poem. The worksheet below is designed to aid your understanding of your selected poem; feel free to use your responses (along with properly cited textual evidence) to support your thesis.
Step 1: Read through the poem to get a sense of it. Identify the subject, the speaker and the audience. Is the subject youth, loss, renewal, patriotism, nature, love? Who is speaking and to whom are they speaking?
Step 2: Identify the sentences and independent clauses (circle the periods, exclamation points, question marks, and semicolons).
Step 3:  Try to figure out the basic ‘story’ of the poem. Look for the progression of time or movement in the poem by identifying verbs and words that indicate time. Now based on your reading thus far, try to write in your own words the literal meaning of the poem.
Step 4: Re-read the poem out loud and look for poetic devices such as metaphor, simile, personification, figurative language, imagery, etc. Underline and label each one, then list them below:
Step 5: Figure out the tone -- the emotion -- of the poem. Is it satiric, serious, mock serious, playful, somber, brash, or  humorous?  Is there an obvious reason for the poet's attitude?
Step 6: Re-read the poem and look for imagery . Are there concrete images or pictures that the poet wants readers to see? Are the pictures created by means of comparisons — for instance, metaphor or simile? Do inanimate objects take on human traits (personification)? Does the speaker talk to inanimate objects or to such abstract ideas as freedom? Write your observations below:
Step 7: Look for the ‘turn’ in the poem and try to figure out its overall ‘message’ Write this in your own words.
Step 8:. Look over your notations and summarize your personal responses. Were you emotionally moved or touched by the poem? Were you entertained or repulsed, terrified or stirred to agree? Are there words and phrases that stick in your memory? Write your observations below:

Essay Sample Content Preview:
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Analysis of the Poem She Walks in Beauty by Lord George Gordon Byron
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!
Analysis
She Walks in Beauty written by Lord George Gordon Byron is a rhythmical poem that vividly describes the inner beauty of a young beautiful woman that the poet came across. Even though there is no place where love has been mentioned throughout the whole poem, one can easily notice that the persona is actually in love with this woman. The persons who is in love with the woman describes the inner beauty of the women by using statements that are intended to make the audience to admire this woman. In the first stanza, line 3, the persons says, “meet in her aspect and her eyes” as a way of informing the audience that there is more in this lady than what we can actually see by our physical eyes. The poet also presents a message that a combination of the physical appearance of a person and their inner attributes can indeed create a romantic feeling when one is truly in love.
In the first stanza of the poem, the poet begins, ‘She walks in beauty, like the night’. The use of the preposition ‘in’ means that the woman herself is actually beauty. However, in the second part, the woman is again compared to night. In most cases, we expect beauty to be compared to daylight or the sun but in this case the poet compares it to the night. Perhaps, the message presented here is that the beauty of the wome...
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