1. Year 10 Poetry Collection
Lesson 2 – ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ by Lord Byron

2. Learning Objective
To understand how Byron uses simile and metaphor alongside graphic literal description to present the horrors of conflict in this poem.
Outcomes:
You MUST annotate your poem independently with as much info as possible. You will need this for your revision next year.
Anything you miss, it is your responsibility to catch up/complete Flipped Learning

3. Context – Who was Lord Byron?
Notorious and flamboyant Romantic poet
Born 1788, died 1824.
Like Percy Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron was a Romantic poet, focusing on emotion and sentiment in reaction to the logic and reason that was rising to prominence across Europe with a surge in scientific research and rationalism.
The Romantics formed a political and social movement that rallied against the emotionless path they felt many were taking.
Byron was a man who was scandalously renowned in his day for the many lovers he had- of both sexes.
To many, he came to represent the Gothic anti-hero: ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’. This was one of the reasons why he left England for foreign shores in 1816.
As an aristocrat of independent wealth, Byron enjoyed travelling. He lived in Italy for seven years before joining the Greek troops fight for independence against the Ottoman Empire.
It was while fighting in Greece that he caught the fever that would kill him at the age of just 36.

4. What is it about?
Old Testament story – short lyric poem, dealing with a biblical subject.
Most famous poem on biblical subject to come out of Romantic Movement
Relates to single day in 701BC where Assyrian King Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem during Assyrian War against King of Judah. 185,000 men of Pagan army died. The Assyrian Chronicles state the Sennacherib spared the city if he was paid large amount of money. He returned home and survived, but was murdered by two of his sons.

5. Glossary
Assyrian fold cohorts Galilee host morrow strown blast mail Ashur Baal Gentile unsmote
i.e. Sennacherib, King of Assyria (705–681 BC) flock of sheep in a sheep-pen troops i.e. Sea of Galilee, a lake in northern Israel army next morning (archaic word for strewn) scattered literally, strong wind; figuratively, divine anger armour capital of the Assyrian Empire pagan fertility god worshipped in ancient times person who is not Jewish, i.e. here, Sennacherib not struck

6. Glossary quatrain anapaests tetrameter alliteration simile metaphor
a stanza of four lines, often having alternate rhymes two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable line of verse containing four stressed syllables words beginning with the same consonant sound, often used to emphasise a particular point in a poem repeated use of the same consonant in a phrase or line a phrase used to make a description more vivid by using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to compare two things direct comparison between two things without using ‘like’ or ‘as’

7. Remember ARTWARS Read poem, note initial reactions
It might be helpful to carry highlighters/felt tips with you so you can colour code your annotations. You must be quick with your notes.
What is it about? What is happening at basic level?
Follows biblical account and describes the consequences of a blast of divine anger from God of Israel. ‘Destruction in title is metaphorical – he didn’t actually die. His reputation was destroyed as his campaign failed (his army were decimated)

8. Points to consider Stirring rhythm Metaphor and simile use
Natural sound of AABB regular rhythm? Why?
Anapaestic tetrameter: four beats per line of two short unstressed and one long stressed
Combination of rhythm and alliteration = enhances musicality and meaning

9. Imagery Sea Nature Weather
Animals = all show nature and vivid imagery reflects Romantic Ideals. Contrasts with description of man made items (spear, mail, lances) which echoes Industrial Revolution. Violence echoes throughout.
Second stanza – paired similes compare soldiers at sunset to trees in summer

10. Complete explanations
Similes and metaphors
Quotation
Effect
Similes and metaphors
Use the chart below to list the similes and metaphors that Byron uses in ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’.
What do you think is the effect of each one? How does it help to illustrate the theme of ‘Conflict’?
Complete grid and focus comments on ‘conflict’ theme.

11. Similes:
like the wolf on the fold (violent image comparing Sennacherib to a predatory animal pouncing upon a peaceful flock of sheep in a pen – brilliantly economic use of language to encapsulate the idea of a city under siege)
like stars on the sea (spears gleaming in the darkness compared to twinkling stars reflected in lake –juxtaposition of weapons of war with sources of beautiful natural light and tranquil waters jolts the reader into a heightened awareness of the horror planned by the besieging army: putting citizens to the sword)
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green (archetypally English landscape image transposed to hot, dusty, possibly treeless Middle East strikes incongruous note: emphasises that violence is planned against the natural order)
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown (builds on the seasonal imagery to show the unexpected results of the aggressors’ violent intentions as God turns the tables on the Assyrian forces)
cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf (shocking image of dying horse foaming at the mouth compared to the cold foam of sea-spray, commonly known as ‘white horses’; example of graphic literal description of death juxtaposed with natural image designed to evoke shock at the desperate aftermath of divine retribution)
melted like snow (another image taken from Nature to underscore the overwhelming strength of the hot ‘blast’ of divine anger and its devastating effect on the power and authority of Sennacherib)

12. Metaphors:
Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast (extended metaphor personifying divine revenge as a winged messenger riding on a hot, angry wind: emphasises that the only possible outcome will be the destruction of the besieging forces)
breathed in the face of the foe/their hearts but once heaved/steed with his nostril all wide/there roll’d not the breath of his pride/the foam of his gasping (extended metaphor to underline the shocking fact that the vengeful breath of God’s messenger literally and metaphorically took the breath away from soldiers and horses alike)
the tents were all silent, the banners alone,­ l The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown (after horror of preceding lines, description of stillness and silence that follow the blast of divine wrath acts as a metaphor for the desolation that God has wrought on the enemies of his chosen people)
the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail (metaphor for the grief of the wives of the dead soldiers; their cries erupt into the poem, breaking through the quiet stillness of the scene of devastation of the previous quatrain, just as they rend the air back in the Assyrian capital)
idols are broke in the temple of Baal (metaphor for God’s anger overpowering heathen enemies, by destroying images of pagan worship)

13. Make comments on… The poem’s narrative
The poem’s musicality (alliteration, regular rhyme and regular rhythm)
Poem’s imagery
Emotions presented in poem
Association of colour?
Effect of each one? Impact on reader? Evidence?

14. Other points Verse form: quatrain in rhyming couplets
Metre: anapaestic tetrameter
Imagery drawn from natural world
Vivid literal description of battle scenes
Abundant use of simile and metaphor
Paradox of biblical context used by notorious ‘freethinker’ and Romantic
The role/power of Old Testament God within the poem (‘Angel of Death’)

15. Development
How does Byron use imagery and metre in his poem to illustrate the theme of conflict?
Consider:
implied meaning of Byron’s similes and metaphors (eg. Stanza 2)
The effects of metre on the reading and interpretation of poem
The repetition of imagery/grouping of imagery (lexical field)
The collective effect of rhythm and imagery on the reader

16. Peer assessment Are they using correct terminology?
Are they using appropriate quotations?
References to language, structure and form?
GCSE Mark Scheme for Paper 2 Section B 
Level 1
Identification of language, form and structure is minimal.
Little evidence of relevant subject terminology.
Level 2
There is some comment on the language, form and structure of the text.
Limited use of relevant subject terminology to support examples given.
Level 3
The response shows an understanding of a range of language, form and structure features and links these to their effect on the reader.
Relevant subject terminology is used to support examples given.
Level 4
Analysis of language, form and structure features and their effect on the reader is sustained.
Relevant subject terminology is used accurately and appropriately to develop ideas.
Level 5
The response is a cohesive evaluation of the interrelationship of language, form and structure and their effect on the reader.
Relevant subject terminology is integrated and precise.