THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB
Lord Byron

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

This is poem is first published in 1815, and it describes the events of the Assyrian king Sennachrib’s attack on the Israelites, as depicted in the Bible. The poem tells of how the evil Assyrians preyed upon the innocent people of Israel (described them as a “fold,” or a flock of sheep). The Assyrian army is cast in a mighty and elegant light, with armour “gleaming in purple and gold.” However, this great army soon withered and fell against the feeble Israelites with aid from the Angel of Death.
The poem is written in quatrains of 2 sets of rhyming couplets each. It has a strong accentual-syllabic meter (4 beats and 12 syllables each line). This allows the poem to eloquently roll off the tongue. The author uses much imagery to portray the battle. For example “wolf on the fold” we can imagine easily a powerful beast attacking a weak little sheep. “Gleaming in purple and gold” describes the wealth of the army. Many other phrases of leaves, sunset, withering, and pale all serve to create a powerful image in the reader’s head. The poem has irony, because after such a build up of describing the greatness of the Assyrian army, it is only revealed that the Israelites prevailed. There is also much use of simile, such as in the first line, and also in the second stanza where the same simile structure is used to draw a clear contrast between the great army at sunset and the same army now decimated at dawn, like leaves of summer to leaves of autumn. Many allusions are made, to the Bible, to the god Baal of the Assyrians that fell to the real God, and the harbinger of death that is the Angel of Death. Lord Byron uses a great deal of literary devices to create such a powerful poem.
This poem completely captures the ideas of war: of glory, of innocence, of death, so it fits very well with my theme.