Good Comparing Herrick And Byron’s Woman Of Beauty Essay Example

Both Robert Herrick and Lord Byron wrote poetry to their ideal woman, and while their approach is very different, in many ways the women they describe are very the same. However, with such perfection one has to wonder if either of the women are real. They are no doubt, beyond perfection and in this take on a kind of dream-like austere precision. By analyzing each woman’s description, one finds that their qualities are not only contrary to nature, but self-conflicting, demonstrating the man’s adherence to an ideal, rather than their true devotion to the lady of their heart.
The woman in Herrick’s poem is the “mistress of his choice” which could be interpreted as the woman he would choose, rather than a woman he has chosen. This interpretation makes the rest of the poem not an ode to live, but rather a list of qualifications for the woman that represents his heart’s desire. She is more witty than wise, has good manners, willing to be kissed, but still pure by the church’s standards, and altogether lovely, but in a way that makes it appear that she does not have to work at it. She is a woman that others like to look at, but who no one else could ever catch, and who loves, or embraces passion in exactly the right amount.
Not unsimilarly, Byron’s woman is described as walking in the night, “of starry skies,” This imagery ties her, like Herrick’s woman to a kind of dream, a night-time fantasy of the woman that might be fanaticized about, but not yet found. Her eyes are dark, and bright, she has a nameless grace, and she is sweet, serene, and innocent. In short, she embodies the idea of perfection, tenderness, and meekness.
What is perhaps most interesting in both men’s descriptions of their ideal women is their self-contradiction, as if even they themselves have not fully determined what it is that they require. Byron describes his lady’s eyes as both “dark” and “bright” and her hair as “raven” and “softly lightened.” It is clear that he is still trying to determine the features of the woman who he most desires, from a physical standpoint. In a more egregious contradiction, Herrick claims he want’s his woman to be “pure enough, but not precise.” Given that the definition of purity is a “total freedom from contamination,” one cannot be “not precisely” pure. Either she is, or she is not. One can assume that what he really requires, in this line of the poem, is for her to be willing to sacrifice his purity to his desires, but be pure in the sense that she has not consorted with other men. He also describes her as like a “civil wilderness,” and as appearing to have “order in sweet neglect.” These contradictions demonstrate the fact that woman is not real, because she is not yet fully formed, or if she is real, because the man in question has built her up in his mind, to create in her the image of the woman he desires, rather than the woman that actually stands before him.
What is most notably different in the two men’s descriptions, however, is the demeaning sense of physical or mental perfection in Herrick’s version of the fantasy woman, when compared to Byron’s. While Byron does touch on the features of her hair and eyes, he spends more time speaking of her virtues, all of which seem legitimately flattering. She is described as calm, eloquent, and good, with a mind that is at peace, and a heart that loves in innocence. In contrast, Herrick describes a woman who he can manipulate and ultimately whom he seems himself as better than. He wants her to be pure, but easy, as previously discussed. He also wants her to be “witty more than wise,” prone to eyerolling. In short he describes a woman who is both vein and shallow, not a fair companion for life, but rather a mistress of beauty and sexuality, a poor model for perfection, but perhaps a fair model for male fantasy. As described by Alexandra, this creates more of a vision for the “perfect mistress” than for the perfect woman, and creates such a model of a women oppressed, that while she may be obedient, according to Herrick’s wishes, one can rightfully doubt her contentment with playing such a role.
Byron describes his lady as being at peace with “all below” because she resides in the stars, in the place of dreams, just as Herrick’s woman resides only in his mind, as a figure to compare every woman to, and to provide the basis of choice and discrimination when he goes to select an actual companion. While each description may provide an ample portrait of the man’s ideal woman, it does not provide a complete picture of a real woman. They are two-deminitional, and without the depth of character, the acceptance of flaw, or the sense of humanity necessary to make them three-dimensional characters, and real people. In analyzing each woman’s description, it becomes clear that the contradictions that exist demonstrate points of indecision in the man’s desires, and a lack of true devotion to a real person in their almost unfeeling nature.