She Walks in Beauty Setting

Where It All Goes Down

The setting of the poem is never made explicit – the woman is compared, in the opening lines, to "night" and "starry skies," so we imagine the entire poem taking place during the night. It's a clear night, and everything is lit only by moonlight and stars. The soft, "tender light" (line 5) creates the perfect mood for telling this unnamed woman just how gorgeous she is. But we can't forget that she's good, too – you can imagine trying to take advantage of the low light to slip an arm around the beautiful lady… But then she pulls away, because her "heart" is just too "innocent" for that kind of thing.