Lesson video

Hello, and thank you for joining me for today's lesson, which is all about analysing the poem "She Walks in Beauty." So we are going to really delve into this poem, thinking about how Byron uses language, structure and form to present his ideas and themes.

I really love doing this sort of stuff, so I cannot wait for this lesson.

Okay, shall we get started? So by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain how Lord Byron uses language, form, and structure to convey the beauty of the woman.

But before we delve into analysing the poem, let's just look at those key words that are going to help us with our understanding of the poem and the lesson.

So the words are alluring, gaudy, aura, to embody and to objectify.

Now, alluring means powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating.

And it's a very apt word when we think about this poem, isn't it? The way that Byron describes this woman as alluring.

Gaudy means to be extravagantly bright in a tasteless way.

So you might describe something that is not very particularly pleasant to look at as being gaudy because it's too bright, it's too tasteless, it's not very nice.

And then we have aura, which is a distinctive atmosphere surrounding a person or thing.

So it's a way to add a description to a person.

You might describe their mystical aura, for example.

To embody means to represent equality or an idea exactly.

And then finally, objectify.

Now objectify is to treat a person like an object or tool or a thing rather than as a human being.

And it's interesting, isn't it, that the word objectify actually has the word object in it.

So this is one way to remember it.

So it's this idea that you are turning someone or looking at someone or treating someone as an object.

You are objectifying them.

Okay, so the outline of our lesson, analysing "She Walks in Beauty" looks like this.

We're going to start by analysing the title, because actually we can tell a lot by the title of some poems and there's lots of stuff in there to look at.

And then we're going to look at this idea of balance and contrast within the poem.

So let's start with that title.

So before we begin, I want to see what we remember about the reading of this poem.

So if you haven't read the poem, now's your chance to go away and read it.

But I want us to discuss, who was this poem written about? Pause a video, so you've got plenty of time to come up with your answers, off you go.

Great memories, everyone.

So yes, Lord Byron allegedly wrote this poem the day after seeing his cousin's wife, Lady Wilmont, for the first time at a party in London.

And supposedly Lord Byron was infatuated with Lady Wilmont and was in awe of her beauty.

I love background story to this poem.

It's so interesting, isn't it? I can almost imagine the party scene with Lord Byron there, seeing this woman.

I just think it's a really fantastic piece of information and a great backstory.

So let's now focus on the poem's title, "She Walks in Beauty." Now, there is a lot that we can say about that word, she, so I'd like you to discuss why might the poet use the pronoun she, and what does this reflect about the relationship between the poet and his subject, the lady? So pause a video to give yourself plenty of time to come up with those answers.

Or you may just wish to sit quietly and think to yourself, okay, off you go.

Thanks, everyone, it's amazing, isn't it? How much there is that can be said about a single word.

So let's share some of those fantastic answers.

So she, the pronoun she anonymizes the woman, doesn't it? So it arguably reflects the circumstances Byron encountered her in.

So if we think about that interesting backstory, it was Byron's cousin's wife, so he can't really name her because that will get all sorts of people in trouble.

So maybe that's why he uses that pronoun she.

But even more so, the anonymity of the woman arguably reflects the idea that she is a stranger to Byron.

And I think that's a really key idea.

She's the subject of his observations and he's gazing at her from afar.

So it's almost like, you know, he's objectifying her, that she's just a she, she doesn't have a name.

She's not a person.

And the anonymity, the anonymity, it's a difficult word that, the anonymity of the woman gives her a mysterious and alluring aura.

She appears almost unreal to Byron.

And I think that's a really interesting point too, because if he had given her name, we would start to make assumptions about her character, 'cause names are really powerful, aren't they? So if we heard the name Lady Wilmont, we might start to draw assumptions from that, whereas if we just hear she, we know nothing about this she, so it's this anonymous, mysterious character.

Okay, so thinking about this idea of objectification, I'd like you to discuss, do you think that Byron objectify the woman in this poem or not? Hmm, pause the video so you've got time to discuss your ideas, off you go.

Okay, fantastic, some really interesting ideas coming there.

And I guess this idea of objectification comes from whether we are looking from a perspective, a contemporary perspective, or maybe from an old fashioned perspective.

But this idea of objectification is really key in terms of how we perceive this poem.

Okay, so A, B, or C, what is the effect of the pronoun she? You need to pick one, A, B, or C, off you go.

Okay, are we ready for the answer? The answer is in fact, A, the anonymous nature of the pronoun arguably represents the mysterious but alluring nature of the woman.

Great work, let's keep going.

So it seems odd, doesn't it, to say that someone walks in beauty as opposed to saying they are beautiful or they have beauty? It's a funny turn of phrase, isn't it, walks in beauty? Now I'd like you to discuss why might Byron have chosen the verb walks and what might it suggest about the woman.

As ever, you're gonna need to pause the video so you've got time to discuss your ideas or think quietly to yourself.

Okay, you ready to go? Pause the video now.

Thank you for your contributions.

Let's just share some ideas.

So you might have said something like, it could suggest freedom, so maybe her beauty gives her choice.

So the beauty is empowering for her.

It could suggest purpose and command, that the woman maybe controls her beauty and uses it like it's quite a definite action, "She Walks in Beauty." But it might just suggest that her beauty isn't just the way she looks, but the way she conducts herself maybe.

So let's look once more at the title, "She Walks in Beauty." And I want us to think about that preposition, that in, because if we change that preposition to with, what wouldn't she walks with beauty convey that she walks in beauty does? So it's quite a tricky question, so let's go over it again.

So what wouldn't she walks with beauty convey that walks in beauty does? So you need to think about that idea of in and what that means, the idea of like in beauty and why in and not with? So there is a lot to think about.

So you're definitely gonna need to pause a video and think about your answers and discuss.

Okay, pause the video, off you go.

Great, some excellent suggestions there.

So let's just share some answers from our pupils.

So Andeep says that, "I think that this means "that she's an embodiment of beauty, "that everything she does is perfect and beautiful.

"She is in beauty because she's beauty itself." That is a lovely explanation, isn't it? Like that she is part of beauty, she walks in it, it almost surrounds her.

And Jun says, "In could mean "that you are wearing something, e.

g.

, "if you are in a blue coat, you are wearing a blue coat.

"So perhaps Byron is saying that she almost wears beauty, "that her beauty is around her and not with her," but there's this definite sense that she's like at one with this beauty.

So we have reached our first task and we're going to be focusing on the following questions.

What do you think Byron means by his title, "She Walks in Beauty," and what do you think he is trying to illustrate about the woman? So what I would like you to do is I would like you to write a response to the questions above using some of the sentence prompts below to help you.

So the sentences you have are, in my opinion, arguably on the other hand, however, and it is possible to infer that.

And Jun's got some good advice here.

"You are effectively being asked "to analyse the poem's title.

"So remember to use quotation marks "for the words in the title to show "that you are evidencing your ideas." So you've got everything you need to answer these questions.

You've got our fantastic ideas that we have come up with throughout this lesson.

So lovely comments on the pronoun she, the idea of the word in beauty and all of that kind of stuff.

So we've got everything, you've got your sentence starters, so I need to stop talking and you need to get going.

So pause the video and off you go.

Well done, everyone, some really fantastic stuff there.

Isn't it amazing how much we can get just from a title, like you've created an analysis on a title? So very well done.

So here's some feedback of some ideas that you may have explored.

So the woman has an aura of beauty.

The woman is described as in beauty to show that she's not only attractive on the outside, but also within her too, yes, very good point.

In might have been used to show that she embodies beauty.

Walks might show that she is aware of her beauty and uses it.

She illustrates the unfamiliar relationship between the speaker and the woman.

They are strangers, and yet she has this powerful hold on him.

She might also reflect the mystery of her beauty.

Perhaps she feels almost like a different entity because of her beauty.

Okay, so what I would like you to do now is to take one idea from the list that you may have missed and add it into your own response.

So pause the video, pick one of those ideas and add it into your response now.

Okay, off you go.

Great stuff, those analysis just keep getting more and more developed, so really great stuff.

Okay, so now we're going to move on to think about the idea of balance and contrast within this poem.

So we have an image here.

I would like you to discuss, how does this image link to "She Walks in Beauty"? Pause video so you can discuss your ideas, off you go.

Fantastic, so yes, absolutely, the poem begins comparing the woman to a starry cloudless sky.

So this is a really important image within the poem.

So I'd like you to take a moment to reread the poem, so make sure you've got those copies of your anthology.

And then I'd like you to highlight any reference Byron makes to opposites.

Okay, so pause the video so you've got time to find those opposites, off you go.

Okay, I'm going to share the ones that I've got.

Make sure that you have these in your anthologies.

So the ones, the words that I found were night and gaudy day, remember gaudy means really bright and almost offensive, dark and bright, shade and rays, raven and lightens.

So I'd like you to discuss what qualities might the lady have that remind Byron of the night pause video.

So you can discuss these ideas or think quietly about your answers, off you go.

Okay, so let's share some of those answers.

So stars and darkness are associated with magic.

So Byron could be trying to show how enchanting she is, and this might suggest that her darkness and mysteriousness is different to the traditional beauty of other women.

Now remember, for a romantic like Byron who is really interested in emotion and feeling, this idea of darkness and emotion would be really attractive to him.

And usually beauty is associated with light.

And so, Byron may be drawing attention to how different her beauty is, and there may be this idea that she has an understated or modest beauty like a starry sky.

But we also need to remember the idea of romanticism and how the romantics kind of really looked at nature with awe, so starry skies and the moon with this awe-inspiring experience.

So the fact that he's comparing this woman to that idea could also again really emphasise how he views her.

So Byron states that in her eyes she has a "tender light" that "Heaven to gaudy day denies." I'd like you to discuss what is Byron saying about daylight here.

Pause video, and off you go.

Great, let's just feed back some answers.

So Andeep says that, "Byron seems to be suggesting "that daylight is harsh and jarring, "and that the woman's beauty is far too gentle "and delicate to be described in this way," interesting, "Which is why he describes the light "within her as tender." Interesting, so now I want us to think about another key image in this poem, and I'd like you to discuss why might it be interesting that Byron describes the lady as having "raven tresses"? Little hint for you, consider what we associate with ravens.

So pause video so you've got time to discuss your ideas, off you go.

Okay, some really interesting perceptive interpretations of that raven imagery, let's share some.

So very often ravens are associated with bad omens, mystery, supernatural and darkness.

So some interesting connotations of like the raven image.

So perhaps the poet feels drawn to the woman in a way that feels dangerous.

It is also interesting and unconventional for a poet to compare their love interest to darkness, as many poets compare their love interest to the sun, or summer or light.

For example, Shakespeare opened his "Sonnet 18" with the lines, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" So it's interesting and it's worth considering Byron as a romantic poet and what he regards or sees as attractive.

So I'd like you to discuss what might this suggest about the poet's feelings towards the subject of this poem.

As ever, you're gonna need to pause that video to get discussing, off you go.

Thanks, everyone, some great ideas happening there.

So thank you.

So again, I'm gonna share my ideas.

So this again could suggest that her beauty is so unique and rare that they can't be represented by conventional comparisons.

She defies the norm of beauty.

So this really accentuates and emphasises how truly special she is.

True or false time.

It would be unusual for a poet to compare their love interest to a raven because ravens are associated with darkness, true or false? Well done to everyone that said true.

Now you've gotta pick A or B to justify that answer.

Okay, who's feeling confident, are we ready? Okay, it's A, many romantic poets have historically compared their love interest to light, the sun or summer to reflect their bright beauty.

So Byron's being a bit unconventional here.

Okay, so throughout the poem, the poet contrast dark and light.

So I'd like you to discuss what do you think Byron was trying to illustrate about the woman through his use of contrast? Now here as a reminder of the contrasts, night and gaudy day, dark and bright, shade and rays, and raven and lightens.

So I'd like you to pause a video and discuss what do you think Byron was trying to illustrate about the woman through his use of contrast? Okay, pause the video, off you go.

Okay, so we're gonna use those discussions to complete task B.

So we have two student responses here, two pupil responses.

Let's just read them through.

So in response to the balance and contrast, Jacob says, "I think he was trying to show how rare her beauty is, "how unique she is.

"Getting the perfect balance "between two contrasting things is extremely difficult.

"So Byron shows the unique nature of her beauty." And then we have another pupil comment here, Andeep says, "I think he was trying to illustrate the idea "that her beauty is perfection, that the best elements "of nature have combined together "to create one perfect being." Some lovely answers there.

But now your job is to decide which of the pupils do you agree with most and why? And then I'd like you to bullet point your reasons for agreeing.

Okay, so pause the video, make sure you've got plenty of time to answer that task, and off you go.

Well done, everyone, thank you so much for your hard work on that task.

So what I would like you to do, if possible, I would like you to share your thoughts on the idea you have chosen with a partner.

I'd then like you please to consider these questions.

Who do you think this poem was written for and why, was it written for the woman or for Byron? I'd like you to discuss those ideas or you could think quietly to yourself or even write those ideas down or those answers to the questions.

Okay, off you go.

Great work, everyone, we have reached the end of the lesson.

It's been so great starting to really unpick that poem and get a really good understanding of it.

There is so much to say about it, isn't there? Okay, so let's remind us of everything, that Byron's title is ambiguous, it raises questions about what beauty truly is.

Is it something we have within ourselves or is it something external? The anonymous pronoun she could represent the fact that the woman was a stranger to Byron.

It also gives her an ethereal quality.

Byron contrasts dark and light imagery throughout the poem, possibly to illustrate the rarity of the woman's beauty.

And the woman's hair is described as raven, arguably to show the mysterious nature of the woman and her alluring presence.

Again, thank you so much for your hard work today.

I have really had a great time exploring this poem with you.

Can't wait to do it all again soon.

So until then, bye-bye.