Women In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage And Don Juan

The work of George Gordon Byron became synonymous with Romanticism. He is known for his longer works – Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan. However, Byron’s opus of shorter lyrical poetry is also rich. “His other mood is the quieter one in which he sings of beauty”, is how his lyrical poetry is described. (Reed 405) These lyrical praises to beauty display Lord Byron’s idealistic view of women as beautiful, gentle, and innocent creatures. “The interest, then, in Byron’s lyrics lies in their direct expression of feeling.” (Reed 406) This kind of a portrayal of women by Byron differs from the one that appears in Don Juan, where women are more so treated as objects, rather than ideals. Byron, in his short lyrical poetry, writes of women as pure idealistic abstractions, as

Her beauty transcends beauty and it is beyond words, magical. Lord Byron describes his women as gentle and innocent, which is also an idealised concept. In She walks in beauty, he outright deems the woman’s love as innocent – “A heart whose love is innocent!” (Byron 18) Whereas in There be none of Beauty’s daughters, he uses comparison to express how the woman is gentle by equating her breathing to an infant’s sleep – peaceful and innocent – “Whose breast is gently heaving / As an infant 's asleep.” (Byron 11-12) Lord Byron’s women are often described with goodness. “And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, / So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, / The smiles that win, the tints that glow” (“She walks in beauty” 13-15) is often interpreted “the woman’s smiles and blushes are a result of her inner goodness and modesty” because he never openly describes her looks, but merely uses her beauty to convey what her beauty speaks about her inner self. (BBC) The next three lines tie onto the image of purity, gentleness and innocence as well: But tell of days in goodness