She Walks In Beauty Like The

The opening line of "She Walks in Beauty" (1814), composed the morning after Byron attended a party hosted by Lady Sitwell in London on 11 June 1814. He was struck by the sight of his cousin's wife, Mrs. Anne Beatrix Wilmot, who was in mourning and wearing black with silver ornaments — the contrast of dark dress and radiant beauty in candlelight giving Byron his central image. The poem was published in Hebrew Melodies (1815), a collection set to traditional synagogue tunes by the composer Isaac Nathan.