Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.

I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Thursday, March 28, 2024.

Today's poem is by George Gordon, Lord Byron, and it's called The Destruction of Sinacherib.

This is a poem that many listeners are probably already familiar with, and I would wager that if you are among them,

it's probably because you encountered this poem in school.

That tends to do one of two things for a poem.

Either creates a lifelong affection and loyalty for the poem,

sometimes even for poems that otherwise wouldn't deserve it. Or it can do the inverse and create a kind of

lasting antipathy for a poem that doesn't deserve it.

And I think, and I've encountered a number of people who indicate, this poem tends to fall

into that latter category, that because we remember it from school, we tend to think of

it in a category of juvenile poetry. It also, because of its

rhyming couplets and its pretty consistent meter, tends to have that coimmy sound that

strikes, especially the reader or listener of contemporary poetry, modernized poetry, strikes our ear very particularly.

I want to stick up for this poem, especially because it's so frequently taught because it is a model of a number of poetic

virtues, as I hope to point out here in a minute. So if you aren't familiar with this poem,

welcome aboard and come along for the ride. If you are and you love it, glad to have you. And if you don't remember loving it,

try and hear it again with some fresh ears and eyes. And we'll see what we can do about that.

I'll read the poem, say a few particular things about it, and then read it one more time.

Here's the destruction of Sinakarib.

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,

...