the destruction of sennacherib

• "gleaming in purple and gold"


  colours of royalty highlight the power and ungodly extravagance of the army, an arrogance which perhaps foreshadows their downfall.
• "and there lay the rider, distorted and pale"


  the description of the pale rider juxtaposes the "gleaming colours in the opening stanza. This epitomises the annihilation of the army.
• "hath melted like snow"


  comparison to snow is an unsual similie because the battle takes place in the desert setting of Jerusalem. This shows the all-powerful nature of God as it reflects the events of the poem: the powerful army is impossibly destroyed just as snow is an almost impossible occurence in the desert.
• "the Assyrian came down like a wolf"


  predatory similie dehumanises King Sennacherib, characterises him and the Assyrian army as villainous and monsterous, out for blood.
• who wrote the poem?

  lord Byron
• who was Lord Byron?

  a notorious romantic poet who was frequently embroiled in public scandals; he is considered by many to be the first celebrity. He had an illegitimate child with his half sister.