The Destruction of Sennacherib

• Poet

  Lord Byron
• like the wolf on the fold


  Simile for Assyrians to show power, compared to predators and prey
• gleaming in purple and gold


  verb suggests they were covered, colours of royalty, even a king can’t kill God
• like stars on the sea


  simile for spears, sibilance, compared to nature to show grandness
• breathed in the face of the foe


  alliteration of ‘f’ shows the ease it took to kill them
• the glance of the Lord!


  Last line, Lord doesn’t need weapons, shows ease, exclamatory sentence shows certainty, poem ends with God
• rust on his mail


  Contrasts with “sheen of their spears” and “gleaming”
• tents were all silent


  Repetition of silence “trumpets unblown”, unnatural, shows unpreparedness of Assyrians, juxtaposes with the “widows” “wail”
• Structure

  Set rhythm and rhyme scheme (rhyming couplets/ AABB) mimics horses galloping and conveys urgency or speed “fold” “gold”, anapaestic tetrameter contributes to remorseless tone and pace of action