Literary Devices in She Walks in Beauty

Line seven features antithesis, or the presentation of two contrasting ideas within parallel grammatical structures. Though antithesis can be used to create opposition between concepts, Byron employs it in order to expand upon the text’s underlying theme of harmony, the balance between darkness and light.

Byron uses diacope, or the repetition of a word with intervening words in between, in this line. Similar to alliteration, diacope contributes a sense of musicality to the poem’s rhythm. Further, the repetition of the pronoun “her” augments the striking imagery that Byron uses to represent the woman’s beauty.

Line two employs alliteration, or the repetition of consonant sounds, by repeating the consonant “c” in “cloudless” and “climes.” Further, Byron uses sibilance, a type of alliteration in which words containing the letter “s” are repeated, in the words “cloudless,” “climes,” “starry,” and “skies.” Alliteration and sibilance lend a musical quality to the poem’s cadence and provide poetic ornamentation that mirrors the beauty of the woman described.

Byron introduces the subject of the poem with a simile, a literary device comparing two things with the words “like” or “as.” Comparing the woman’s beauty to a clear and starry night is not only memorable for the reader, but also presents an ideal of feminine beauty that borders on abstract as opposed to realistic. As a result, Byron resists giving many concrete details about her looks and her personality throughout the text but the intention of his comparison is conveyed.

The first two lines of the poem are an example of enjambment, a device in which a thought or idea that begins in one line flows into the next in a line of verse. In this context, enjambment creates movement while also establishing the poem’s rhythmic pattern of iambic tetrameter.