She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814 (published 1815)

Catalog grade guidance: 6–12 — Three short stanzas; some Latinate words.

23 content lines · 130 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 20 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #21811: The Works of Lord Byron, Poetry, Vol. 3, ed. Ernest Hartley Coleridge (1900).Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY.

                    I.

    She walks in Beauty, like the night
      Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
    And all that's best of dark and bright
      Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
    Thus mellowed to that tender light
      Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

                    II.

    One shade the more, one ray the less,
      Had half impaired the nameless grace
    Which waves in every raven tress,
      Or softly lightens o'er her face;
    Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
     How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

                    III.

    And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
      So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
    The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
      But tell of days in goodness spent,
    A mind at peace with all below,
      A heart whose love is innocent!

                                                          _June_ 12, 1814.