The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron: GCSE

The Destruction of Sennacherib 

by Lord Byron (1815) 

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!

Context: 

George Gordon Byron, known as Lord Byron was an English poet, peer, politician and leading figure in the Romantic movement. A key feature of this movement was that the Romantics were fascinated by exotic cultures and supernatural events.  

The poem relates to the biblical version of King Sennacherib’s attempted siege of Jerusalem. In the second book of Kings it describes the events of one night when most of the Assyrian army die very mysteriously in their sleep at the hand of God. There are other historical accounts of that conflict in which the Assyrians were actually victorious and it is fiercely contested by historians as to what exactly did happen.  

When this poem was written Britain had been in the Napoleonic Wars for over a decade and maybe this poem captures the spirit of a nation who were praying for a swift victory against the French.  

The Temple in Baal was partially destroyed by ISIS in 2015 showing that war and conflict is an ever present problem for humanity.  

Structure: 

Six stanzas with four lines (quatrains) in each. 

All lines are end-stopped which gives a feeling of containment that soldiers could not escape from the Angel of Death. All stanzas have rhyming couplets throughout which add to poems force and energy. Assyrian army is also very strong but not as strong as the Christian God.  

Written in anapestic tetrameter which is a metric pattern which gives two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one. Each line has four of these da da dums – used to evoke the sound of galloping horses.  

Regular dependable form depicts the idea that the faithful of Jerusalem are able to rely on their Christian God.  

Point of View: 

Third person narrative, retelling a bible story, religious perspective.  

Meaning: 

Poem explores God’s almighty power over the fragility of human life – we defy him at our peril.  

Use of Language: 

First stanza: 

• In the opening line a simile is used to present a formidable enemy. Wolf – beast. Fold – enclosure with sheep in. Suggests a very unequal contest with the Assyrian army presented as an evil predator about to attack innocence.  
• Riches and wealth suggested by gleaming purple and gold. Sheen shows weapons are shiny and new. 
• Sheen, spears, stars, sea – hissing sibilance adding to sense of evil and power.  
• Simile of spears like stars suggest there are many of them – huge army.  

Second stanza: 

• Imagery from natural world continues into second stanza. 
• Army now liked to leaves in a forest with each soldier being a green leaf (in prime of life). 
• Like the stars, the green leaves show this is a big army.  
• The second rhyming couplet comes as a shock because now the soldiers are like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown. 
• Host – army. Morrow – next day, the following morning when the soldiers are defeated and lifeless like brown dead leaves.  
• The reader wonders how could this formidable army be so defeated.  

Third stanza: 

• The first word, 'For', signals explanation. It was because the Angel of Death (Christian God) spread his wings. In other words, God send his Angel of Death to defeat the enemy. Angel of Death represents God’s power which has intervened to protect the holy people of Jerusalem from this Godless threat. The hearts of the Assyrian enemy are forever still. 

Fourth stanza: 

• Focus on a horse that is lying lifeless. Pathos – because animal is innocent and suffers due to the warlike nature of mankind.  
• Cold as the spray – cold as the sea. Reference to foam also evokes the sea.  

Fifth stanza: 

• Horse rider is dead – distorted and pale.  
• Instead of the gleaming swords described in the first stanza, we now have rust. 
• The rider has dew on his brow – further reference to natural world. Whoever we are in life, we all end up dead. 
• Reference to silence, there is no one to lift the banners or the lances or blow the trumpets. Angel of Death (power of Christianity) has left nothing, no life – no heroic struggle.  

Sixth stanza: 

• Juxtaposition – takes us away from the dead to the living. Widows wail for their loss back in Ashur – ancient capital of Assyria.  
• Baal is the word for the Assyrian god. 
• Idols – physical representations, models and statues of god are broken in the temple. God’s wrath has extended into Assyria and broken these false idols that people worshipped.  
• The Angel of Death has them then a lesson. That their might and famously aggressive militaristic society against his power is nothing at all.  
• He merely has to glance and they melt like snow. 

Themes: 

• God’s almighty power 
• Natural world – superiority of nature as it continually renews. When we die we return to nature or become part of nature. We shouldn’t therefore consider ourselves too important in the scheme of things – Assyrian soldier in gleaming armour is covered in rust and dew the following morning, nature consuming him overnight. 

The Destruction of Sennacherib by Rubens 1613

Was Sennacherib a real person?

In 701 BCE, Sennacherib turned from Babylonia to the western part of the empire, where Hezekiah of Judah, incited by Egypt and Marduk-apla-iddina, had renounced Assyrian allegiance. The rebellion involved various small states in the area: Sidon and Ashkelon were taken by force and a string of other cities and states, including Byblos, Ashdod, Ammon, Moab and Edom then paid tribute without resistance. Ekron called on Egypt for help but the Egyptians were defeated. Sennacherib then turned on Jerusalem, Hezekiah's capital. He besieged the city and gave its surrounding towns to Assyrian vassal rulers in Ekron, Gaza and Ashdod. Sennacherib however never breached the city.^[29]Hezekiah remained on his throne as a vassal ruler.^[30] (The campaign is recorded with differences in the Assyrian records and in the biblical Books of Kings).

If you're really getting into this, you can look at this interactive map which shows more about Sennacherib's campaign in Ancient Judah.

The account of the siege of Jerusalem in the Bible (2 Chronicles 32:18):

18 Then they called out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to terrify them and make them afraid in order to capture the city. 19 They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world—the work of human hands.

20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. 21 And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword.

22 So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them[c] on every side. 23 Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations.

Revision questions for this poem:

1. What sort of conflict is this poem about?
2. Why is this poem a good example of 'Romantic Poetry'?
3. How does the poet use rhythm to communicate his message?
4. Which examples of imagery strike you most as you read the poem? Try to explain why they are good using PEE paragraphs.