The Destruction of Sennacherib

The Destruction of Sennacherib is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1815 in his Hebrew Melodies. It is based on an event described in the Bible (2 Kings 18-19) during the campaign by Assyrian king Sennacherib to capture Jerusalem. The rhythm of the poem has a feel of the beat of a galloping horse's hooves (an anapestic tetrameter) as the Assyrian rides into battle.^{[citation needed]}

Story

The poem relates the Biblical version of Semnacherib's attempted siege of Jerusalem, and takes place in one night. At sunset the huge Assyrian army were bearing down upon the un-named Jerusalem 'like the wolf on the fold': overnight the Angel of Death 'breathed on the face of the foe'; by morning most of the Assyrian army has died, mysteriously, in their sleep. The poem describes the dead soldiers and their horses then touches, briefly, on the grief of the Assyrian widows before concluding that "The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."

The poem is faithful to the Biblical account, which claims that 185,000 Assyrians died; however Assyrian chronicles, giving Semnacherib's own version of the events, describe the campaign as a success, claiming that Jerusalem surrendered and offered tribute. The Chronicles do not mention any significant loss of Assyrian life.

Other Authors

The poem was popular in Victorian England and, when the first Australian cricket team to tour England defeated a strong MCC team, including W G Grace, at Lord's on 27 May 1878, the satirical magazine Punch celebrated by publishing a parody of the poem including a wry commentary on Grace's contribution:

The Australians came down like a wolf on the fold,
The Marylebone cracks for a trifle were bowled;
Our Grace before dinner was very soon done,
And Grace after dinner did not get a run.

Mark Twain has references to this poem throughout his works, from his early newspaper sketches to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and it is mentioned often in biographies of him, making it clear that it was important to him.

Ogden Nash's "Very Like a Whale", a humorous complaint about poetical metaphors, uses this poem for its inspiration.

In the FX animated series Archer, the character Pam has the third stanza of the poem tattooed on her back.

Terry Pratchett, in his 'Discworld' novels, makes several references to the poem's well-known opening two lines "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold / And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold"; much of the humour springing from a misunderstanding of 'cohorts' to mean part of a suit of armour. Characters in the novels occasionally buy Armour Polish advertised "For Gleaming Cohorts".

Bibliography

• Altham, H S (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin. 

External links

• englishhistory.net – The Destruction of Sennacherib, first published in 1815.
• [1] – The Destruction of Sennacherib, from the site, Sennacherib.net