She Walks in Beauty

Darkness and brightness symbolize the duality of beauty as “all that’s best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes” (Lines 3-4). Beauty shines and beams, but it’s also something of a veil; there’s a mysterious component to the concept. Yet the presence of darkness doesn’t mean that the woman’s beauty is malevolent. The woman maintains a “mind at peace” (Line 17) and a “heart whose love is innocent” (Line 18). Darkness symbolizes the mystifying aspects of beauty. There are things about beauty that resist categorization, which is why the woman carries a “nameless grace” (Line 8).

The lightness arguably symbolizes the more conventional aspects of beauty. Light generally represents something visible or wholesome, and beauty is a positive trait that often takes center stage. The woman emits “tender light” (Line 5) and “tints that glow” (Line 15). She illuminates the poem with her admirable beauty. The light represents the clarity of her beauty or the obvious and transparent elements. Darkness hints at its enigmatic traits, but brightness reinforces beauty’s explicitness. The woman in the poem is beautiful; it’s why she gets so much light—so people can see her.