‘She walks in beauty’ is a luminary piece of literary work by George Gordon Lord Byron. This short poem was first published in the ‘Hebrew Melodies’ in the year 1815. Sonnet 18 is one of the most famous works of the Shakespeare and was published along with other sonnets in the year 1609 in a huge series. This paper intends to discuss poems, ‘she walks in beauty’ as well as ‘sonnet 18’ and further compares both of them in view of several related aspects.
When we look at both the poems, beauty appears as a common theme in both literary works. Both authors portray beauty in their works in extensive way. Lord Byron throughout his poem, ‘she walks in beauty’ describes about the beauty of a woman. He adopts a number of ways to say that the woman is gorgeous and praises her beauty in different ways through words. In fact, the complete poem can be typified as the description of a beautiful woman. Author appears to be fond of beauties and the same is reflected in his poem.
William Shakespeare in his work sonnet 18 talks about the beauty of dearly loved. Shakespeare says that days of summer are extremely hot but the beauty of beloved is cool, soothing and pleasant. Shakespeare talks about the responsibilities of beautiful people. Shakespeare advises young men to take care of their beauty and maintain it for the whole of their life. Shakespeare further advises young men to preserve their beauty by procreation. Author talks about the timeless beauty for young men and focuses on transferring it to the coming generations.
Love is another main subject that has been widely taken up by both the authors in their poems. Lord Byron’s poem is all about poet’s love for the beautiful woman and it appears that in her praise only, he authored this poem. Lord Byron’s quest for the perfect love in his personal life made him a capricious lover. His other literary work reflects his frustration and dissatisfaction. Perhaps this is the reason that he has tried to depict a woman of his imagination and to fall in love with her.
William Shakespeare also depicts love in his poem and sonnet 18 starts with the portrayal of love. Author shares that love is soothing and gratifying. He says that summer is hot but the love of beloved makes it cool and pleasant. Shakespeare mentions about the eternity of love and says that it will exist till the existence of human life on the earth.
Nature is one of the main ideas that has significant role in the imaginations of Byron and Shakespeare. Byron in ‘she walks in beauty’ extensively talks about the darkness, night, cloudless climes, and starry skies on the other hand Shakespeare in ‘sonnet 18’ talks about summer, day, heaven, and heat. Both of them have based their imaginations on the nature. Their ideas, imaginations and words wander around the nature.
Lord Byron uses romantic words and almost flatters in his poem. He praises the beautiful woman and for this purpose selects suitable words and metaphors. Shakespeare on the other hand uses clear words with the intention of expressing self in his poem. The writing of Shakespeare is very powerful and sonnet 18 corroborates this information. Shakespeare in Sonnet 18 uses clear words to display several ideas about love and beauty.
Both the authors have used imaginary things in their literary works. Both the authors have used words to depict the ideas of their imagination in a well thought manner. Shakespeare being more nimble in the art took a lead and Byron at a point or more did not hesitate from following him. Byron talks about an imaginary woman in his poem while Shakespeare talks about imaginary young men.
It is said that Lord Byron authored the poem, she walks in beauty to pacify the problems of his personal life and the poem informs a lot about the personal life of lord Byron on the other hand it is said that to understand the William Shakespeare and his personal life, one should read the sonnets. It is not possible to understand the personal life of William Shakespeare without reading the sonnets. Thus both the literary works that are discussed in this paper are considered very close to the personal life of their authors.
After having observed the above-mentioned detailed analysis of the poems, lord Byron’s ‘she walks in the beauty’ and Shakespeare’s ‘sonnet 18’ it is good to say that there are a number of similarities in both the literary works. Such similarities start right from the similarity in titles to the themes of the poems. The opening of Lord Byron’s poem she walks in beauty is somehow inspired by the Shakespeare’s sonnet. Byron appears reversing the opening of sonnet 18. Both the above mentioned poems are highly acclaimed and loved by readers even after the centuries of their making.
Works Cited
Janet E. Gardner, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl & Peter Schakel . Literature: A Portable Anthology. Bedford, England: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012.
Shakespeare, William. The Sonnets. London: Collector's Library, 2009.
