George Gordon, Lord Byron

This poem was obviously written about a woman who Byron found attractive, maybe even in love with. His description of her in the first stanza contains one of his most famous lines:

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 mellow’d to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

To me, this poem sounds of a love that cannot be had, he sees someone who is close to him but almost forbidden, so he writes this poem in her honor. I guess that this poem could be about his sister whom he had an unusually close bond with, but with his history there is no telling who the subject of this famous poem could be. I was actually familiar with this poem when I read it, having learned it a younger age. This poem, about beauty and love has endured all these years.