Hello everyone! I hope you are well. I am in fact still alive, and hoping to write more here. I keep getting swept up in life and don't post anything here, but Steem is a huge part of who I am, and I regret that I don't spend as much time writing as I used to. Today I wanted to share a song with you that I wrote a couple months ago.

She Walks in Beauty

I decided to set Lord Byron's most famous poem a couple of months ago, and went against one of the earliest pieces of advice I received from one of my teachers:

Never set a poem that's a masterpiece because your music won't be able to live up to it.

He was absolutely right (this advice came after my childish attempt at setting Edgar Allen Poe's Annabel Lee during my first year of compositional study). Lord Byron's She Walks in Beauty has intimidated me since I first read it in high school because of that advice. For that reason, when I went to set it a few months ago, I actually gave up after my first read-through of the poem. I thought no matter how long I tried, I'd never be able to write music for those words.

Instead I decided to just write a new piano piece, and started improvising in a very foreign key to me: Gb major. I did this intentionally because I wanted to try to push myself and find a new flavor that's not my typical "style". Typically what happens when I try to go to the world of Gb major is either it's too simple or it's too complicated. This is because I have a hard time thinking in this key in a way that gives me the freedom to "flow". But that day a melody and harmonic progression came to me almost immediately. I thought it was very beautiful, and then all of a sudden realized that it fit the words of Lord Byron's poem perfectly. I decided that meant they should go together.

The music doesn’t quite capture the beauty of the words, but I realized that’s the point—the words are what give the music its depth. We sing them because they bring something the notes alone can’t. The music isn’t disrespecting the poem; it complements it in its own way, offering an experience beyond simply reading the lines. This isn’t the most complex or impressive song I’ve written (it’s strophic and simple). But I think that’s fitting, because it mirrors the character of the poem itself. Lord Byron didn’t craft an epic poem for the woman who inspired She Walks in Beauty (his cousin’s wife, as it turns out 🤮) but instead wrote something short, sweet, and powerful. I believe the music reflects that same spirit. I hope you enjoy it!

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this! I love this poem, and would love to hear what some of your favorite poems are in the comments!