A Comparison Between the Poems of Lord Byron and William Shakespeare Sonnet 130

Published in 1814, She Walks in Beauty is a poem celebrating the beauty of Lord Byron’s female lover, It is composed of three stanzas with sestets of an ABAB rhyme scheme Byron‘s inspiration for this poem is Anne Beatrix Wilmot, a captivating guest who attended the same party as him in the year 1814‘ Byron was moved by Anne’s striking physical appearance and constructed a poem to express his admiration of Anne‘s physical perfection published in 1609, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 is a bitingly sarcastic poem which attempts to show his love through negative remarks on the physical appearance of his lovers This poem is classified as a Shakespearean sonnet with 3 sequential quatrains and a concluding couplett The poem adopts an ironic tone to parody the melodramatic poets who compare their lovers to roses and sunsets.

The subject of not only this poem, but Shakespearean sonnets 127 to 154, is known simply as the Dark Lady. The identity of this mysterious figure has been speculated by literature historians for decades but is believed by many to be Emilia Lanier, an English poet who fits the description of Shakespeare’s elusive ‘Dark Lady’s Both poems reflect on the central idea that ‘love does not need the superficial conceits of beauty in order to be real’tEach poet offers an opposing perspective, with Lord Byron contradicting this idea while Shakespeare endorses it.

This presentation will discuss how the manipulation ofstructure, tone, simile, and imagery renders each poem effective in communicating the central idea Byron and Shakespeare use different structures to convey a sense of admiration for their respective lovers.

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Byron’sShe Walks in Beauty is written in iambic tetrameter, it consists of lines with eight syllables in a repetitive unstressed, stressed syllable patterns On the other hand, Sonnet 130 follows Shakespeare’s familiar iambic pentameter, with ten syllables per line and again, an unstressed, stressed patternt Both poets use of iambic meters reflects on their desire to write with rhythm and natural flow. This choice appropriately echoes their admiration of their partners and the pure, abundantly flowing love felt by both poetstOne interesting note is the use of metrical inversion in line 4 of She Walks in Beauty The line, ‘meet in her aspect and her eyes’ is the only line that disrupts the metert Byron‘s use of this technique draws attention to not only the content of that line, but also communicates a sense of unpredictability about his lover.

The deliberate use of this technique in the very first stanza of the poem subconsciously alerts the audience and allows them to better appreciate the consistent meter of the remaining stanzas Establishing the tone of a poem is achieved through diction. ln She Walks in Beauty, Byron’s diction establishes a positive tone while Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 adopts a far more negative tone. This is evident withlines such as ‘so soft, so calm, so eloquent’ compared to ‘the breath that from my mistress reeks‘t The contrasting tone of both poems accurately represents the perspective that each poet takes on the idea that love does not need the superficial conceits of beauty in order to be real. The contrasting tones are also effective in appealing to different audiences.

A more mature and cynical audience will appreciate Shakespeare’s clever irony while a younger audience, perhaps still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of love, is better able to resonate with Byron Despite the shared purpose of convincing the reader of the sincerity of their love, it is still appropriate that each poet possess a different tone. Byron‘s idyllic mood is fitting for his innocent but somewhat naive depiction of love while Shakespeare’s realistic tone reinforces his brutally honest but endearing perception of how irrelevant beauty is in a relationship. Both poets adopt the poetic technique of simile to draw comparisons between their lovers and objects of nature, The opening line of Sonnet 130 states that ‘my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun‘ while the opening line of She Walks in Beauty states that ‘She walks in beauty, like the night‘t Both poems offer an interesting take on the conventional comparison of beautiful women to sunshine and radiance.

For example, one of Shakespeare’s other works, Sonnet 18, even asks the famous rhetoric, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?! While Shakespeare‘s obvious irony is evident in the way he refutes any connection between his mistress and the sun, Byron attempts to transcend the traditional simile of beauty akin to the sun and instead, chooses to liken his lover to the ‘starry skies‘ of the night. The similar use of simile, but for different purposes, reflects the different kind of love felt by each poet. Shakespeare‘s love is understood to be more critical but humorous while Byron adopts a more serious yet adoring approach to courtship. Both Shakespeare and Byron use figurative language to complement imagery within their poems, A striking example of visual imagery includes the reference that both poets make to their lover‘s hair. In line 4 of Sonnet 130, Shakespeare states that ‘If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head’.

Meanwhile, Byron describes ‘the nameless grace which waves in every raven tress’ in lines 8 and 9 of She Walks in Beauty. The choice of the words ‘wires’ versus ‘waves‘ highlights the contrasting attitudes of each poet. The term ‘wires‘ conjures negative connotations of coarse, stiff locks while ‘waves’ illustrates soft, rolling curls that are pleasant and soft to the touch. The effect of these particular word choices shows the reader that Shakespeare is not impressed by his lovers appearance while Byron is very much obsessed with recounting his lovers physical perfection. One interesting similarity between the poems is that both Shakespeare and Byron refer to their lovers as brunettes. This is known through the description of ‘black wires’ and ‘raven tresses’.

This is unusual as historically speaking, women with blonde hair have served as the idealistic embodiment of beauty. This suggests that both Shakespeare and Byron knew their romantic interests were not conventionally attractive. This explains why Shakespeare felt comfortable with dismissing his lover’s beauty while also explaining why Byron may have felt the need to overcompensate for his lover‘s appearance through his dramatic prose riddled with hyperbole such as ‘the smiles that win‘ and ‘the tints that glow’. Compared side by side, it is evident that the integrity of Shakespeare’s love surpasses that of Lord Byron’sr The stark contrast in how She Walks in Beauty and Sonnet 130 adopt descriptive elements to declare their love is apparent in the ways that Shakespeare and Byron both attempt to convince the reader that their love is the purest.

The manipulation of structure, tone, simile, and imagery present Byron as a superficial partner with a shallow infatuation based on lust. Meanwhile, Shakespeare is understood to be more genuine in his expression of love as he disregards his maiden’s beauty, or rather lack thereof, and focuses instead on the rarity of their relationship. Sonnet 130 very much supports the idea that love does not need the superficial conceits of beauty in order to be realr On the other hand, She Walks in Beauty offers an opposing perspective through the limited view that external appearances depict internal beauty. In conclusion, Byron fails to do what is so effortlessly achieved in Sonnet 130i Shakespeare’s shocking depiction of his lover is effective in communicating how he cares for more than just her beauty – something that will fade over time anyway To the disappointment of his audience, Byron’s She Walks in Beauty is limited in expression, denying the audience of a true understanding of the complexity of true love.