First sentence: 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 the tender light/ Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Premise/plot: Hebrew Melodies is a collection of poetry by Lord Byron first published in 1815. The poems were written to be set to music composed by Isaac Nathan. The first poem is perhaps one of Byron's best known poems, "She Walks In Beauty."
It seems some versions of Hebrew Melodies have twenty-eight poems, and other versions have thirty poems. The edition published in 1815 certainly did not have twenty-eight or thirty.
My thoughts: Don't expect all the poems in Hebrew Melodies to be as wonderful as She Walks In Beauty. If you do, chances are you'll be disappointed with what you actually get.
Many of the poems have a melancholic almost fatalistic theme.
Did I "like" this collection? I am a more reluctant poetry enthusiast. I struggle with poetry. There are some poems that I do love, love, love. It is discovering poems that I do love that keeps me reading poetry instead of avoiding it. But I didn't really love this collection.
© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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