the destruction of sennacherib -- Lord byron

context

Byron was a romantic poet — emphasises emotion + nature

poem is based on a short story from the old testament however, does not focus on anything religious

poem shows traits of the classic byronic hero:

• sexually attractive

• an outsider

• secretive

• self destructive

synopsis

king Sennacherib and his army are about to attack holy city, Jerusalem.

angel of death is sent by god and mysteriously / swiftly kills Assyrian army + horses

widows back home grieve their deaths.

‘the Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold’

simile suggest he is a dangerous predator.

the people in Jerusalem are probably depicted as sheep

‘when summer is green…

… at sunset were seen:

when autumn hath blown…

…lay wither’d and strown’

comparing the change in the Assyrian’s fortune to a change in seasons making their defeat look inevitable and natural.

‘and their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!’

alliteration of ‘h’ slows the narrative down, sounding like final exhale of breath before death.

the angel of death is not depicted as violent — instead, he calmly kills the soldiers.

‘And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

and cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf’

created a disturbing image of the horses death

uses a vivid simile to depict the last breath that the horse takes before it reaches its death.

‘The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown’

the idea of silence around the soldiers’ death creates an almost peaceful image.

again shows how there was nothing the soldiers could do and their death was inevitable as they did not even have a chance to fight back.

‘widows of ashur are loud in their wail’

screams from Assyrian women create a heightened sense of emotion that contrasts with the ‘silent’ battlefield in Jerusalem.

‘hath melted like snow in the glance of the lord!’

gentle nature simile shows how easily god can destroy and reinforces the calm almost natural defeat of the Assyrian army.

exclamatory sentence emphasises the power of god.