Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
Last Line: Hath melted like snow in the glance of the lord!
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron
Variant Title(s): Sennacherib
Subject(s): Assyria; Bible; Death; Jews; Religion; Sennacherib, King Of Assyria; War; Dead, The; Judaism; Theology


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 forever
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!




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