She Walks in Beauty

“Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare (1609)

William Shakespeare is one of the most famous—if not the most famous—English playwrights and poets. He published a canonized collection of sonnets, and a handful of those sonnets focus on a mistress or a romantic partner. In “Sonnet 130,” Shakespeare’s speaker resists the temptation to objectify or extoll the stereotypical beauty of the woman he loves. Unlike the speaker in “She Walks in Beauty,” Shakespeare’s speaker praises the woman for not conforming to fetishistic beauty norms. He likes that the woman isn’t completely pure, pleasant, or heavenly. While the beautiful woman in Byron’s poem emits heavenly light, the speaker in Shakespeare’s poem declares, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Line 1). If Byron’s poem perpetuates sexist notions about beauty, Shakespeare’s sonnet counters them.

“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1820)

Shelley is another major Romantic poet, and his lyric “Ode to the West Wind” highlights the power of nature. In Byron’s poem, nature has a notable amount of authority, as the woman’s beauty is due in part to beauty’s relationship with nature. At times, nature seems like the activating force for beauty in Byron’s lyric.