Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A Little Poetry

I admit, I'm not normally a poetry kind of person. It's usually over my head and boring to me. I've had teachers get all excited about dissecting a poem and I'm just ready to move on. Doesn't speak to me very much generally. But here is one that I love. Maybe because it's so musical to me.

The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
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.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd,
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

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 trumpets 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!

Thoughts anyone?

8 comments:

ldsjaneite said...

I remember reading this in high school somewhere. And my thoughts were "Oh nice. Something religious." That was about it. I had not been hit by my occasional poetry bug at the time. Nor am I hit with it now. So my thoughts this time around are "Oh. I remember seeing a picture that went with this."

Happy National Poetry Month!

pcNut said...

Beautiful wording. I could never do anything remotely like this. However, I love to solve the mystery (to the best of my ability).
I really liked the Angel of Death breathing on the foe and the might of the Gentile being melted. Powerful imagery to me:)
Love you:)

Sara Lyn said...

Heidi - That's a funny thought. Thanks. :) Morgan read it out loud to me, which probably made it more impressive than just reading off the page.

Sarah - I loved the imagery of this, too. Morgan says that it's the only story to take a full chapter in Kings, Chronicles AND Isaiah.

Sara Lyn said...

Heidi - Oh, and I kept hearing a great chorus sing it BYU Singers style. How cool would that be?

ldsjaneite said...

mmmm--that would be lovely.

Ramona Zabriskie said...

Well, as usual, you know how I feel about poetry -- especially magnificent poetry like this piece. I can't believe you can say that you are usually bored by poetry - since almost all scripture is a form of poetry and i know you love your scriptures!

Sara Lyn said...

Aunt Mona - Let's put it this way. The kind of poetry they made us read in school was always boring to me. Blech. I suppose there is some poetry that I like, but besides the scriptures (which are over my head anyway) :), I haven't found a niche. Except for Mozart operas. Ah...

Kristy Lynne said...

I love poetry, but I'm going to have to read this one a few times to get it. Maybe because I'm sick. I read it aloud to Brian and it sounded musical. I'm just not in my right mind.