Thursday, September 17, 2009

Shelly and Lord Byron

N.B. Percy Shelly, his wife Mary Shelly, and Lord Byron often vacationed at a summer house of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. One summer they agreed to each write a ghost stories and see who could come up with the best. Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" won.

She Walks in Beauty
by Lord Byron

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 mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd 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.

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!

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