Maggie McBrady: What is Beauty?

My Original Definition of Beauty
Beauty is appealing and evokes emotion that can be good or bad.  Beauty has value and is usually cherished or appreciated.  Almost anything can have beauty.

Example
A lake at sunset with large mountains behind it.  For me, the lake evokes a calming emotion and allows me to just appreciate the here and now.  Nature is generally cherished and valued.  For example, a property overlooking a lake would be valued higher than a property near a garbage dump.

Revised Understanding and Questions
I enjoyed that some classmates added mystery to their definition's.  When I originally said that beauty could be good or bad I think mystery was the element I was trying to get at.  I found it interesting that a majority of our examples of beauty involved nature.  I agree with Kristina in that having knowledge is key to recognizing the beauty in something but having too much knowledge can destroy the beauty because of its lack of mystery.  I am a little confused by Plato's definition of beauty.  My understanding is that true beauty is in the one true form of a thing and every copy of the original form is nothing but an imitation.  Would Plato appreciate a painting or discard it for not being the one true form.  Also, did Plato have a higher value for craftsman than for painters and artists?  Plato said that for each thing there are three crafts:  one that makes it, one that uses it, and one that imitates it.  Is there a ranked order for which craft is better in Plato's opinion?  As of now with my understanding of Plato I don't think I agree with him.