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Lord Byron
From "The Destruction of Sennacherib" 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 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!
1788-1824
1. George Gordon was born January 22, 1788 in London, England. 2. He was born with a clubfoot. 3. He was named Lord Byron in 1798 and moved to the Byron's anscestral home. 4. Byron attended Trinity College in Cambridge. 5. He was exiled from England multiple times.
While the words in a poem may have a literal meaning that continues the plot, they might also have a deeper meaning, or connotation, that expresses an idea that the author also wanted to the reader to perceive. Byron uses the connotation of various words in “The Destruction of Sennacherib” to reveal his thoughts on a subject. An example in the poem is the lines, 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. In these lines there is a clear metaphor comparing the seasons’ leaves and the Assyrians. Beginning in the summer, the leaves are green, healthy, and supporting their base, a tree. Like the summer’s leaves, the Assyrian army starts out healthy, well built, and durable, supporting their base, their home country Assyria. However, after night falls the leaves in autumn are a more fitting comparison for the Assyrians. The description of these leaves also describe the army: dead, scattered, detached from their home, and useless. Byron wanted a reaction from the reader, one of surprise and defeat. A final example of connotation is Byron’s use of death’s personification and the Lord’s final victory to demonize the Assyrians. “The Angel of Death” pays a terrorizing visit to the Assyrian camp in the night wiping out the camp as a whole with the exception of Sennacherib. Death as an angel in the poem demonstrates that Byron believed the death of the Assyrians was an angelic, heavenly, or merciful event. The Lord’s final victory is apparent in the last two lines of the poem: “And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, / Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!” The Gentile are Sennacherib and his army, and though being untouched by battle (the sword), they “melted like snow” when the Lord sent a pestilence to obliterate the camp. Both of these instances are evidence that Byron was demonizing the Assyrians, being that good always triumphs over evil and the Lord over the devil.
Works Cited
megzii05 added this comment 2008-11-25 15:41:13-06:00
who cares exactly????????????????
kristae17 added this comment 2009-04-29 15:23:45-05:00
it's for school, maybe you would realize it if you weren't spending all your time making glogs for fun in your free time.
megzii05 added this comment 2008-11-25 15:41:13-06:00
who cares exactly????????????????
kristae17 added this comment 2009-04-29 15:23:45-05:00
it's for school, maybe you would realize it if you weren't spending all your time making glogs for fun in your free time.