The Portrayal of War in On the Idle Hill and The Destruction of Sennach

The Portrayal of contend in On the undue Hill and The decease of SennacheribThe grammatical construction of these 2 metrical compositions are similar but comparisons put up be madebetween On the escaped hill and The destruction of SennacheribAlthough the content is similar the title, tone, language, devices,structure and punctuation are very different.In the early 1800s when Byron wrote The destruction of Sennacheriba large war campaign was occurring The Napoleonic contends. The warssurrounding him would effect his opinion on war. In the late 1800s whenHousman wrote On the idle hill, no major battle was occurring.However, ironically within 20 years of this poem more lads werebeing sent to the slaughter in World War One.The titles of the two poems are very different. On the idle hill delivers a very passive stick out, whereas Destruction of Sennacherib isvery active. Byrons poem is a classify of war. The title showsaction and it brings a sense of all encompassing. Whereas O n the idlehill shows laziness as idle personifies the hill making the set offof the poem peaceful and natural. This image contradicts war, which isvery ironic.The two poems by Byron and Housman portray war. On the idle hill isa very natural affair. The Destruction of Sennacherib is a veryviolent and graphic event. Both of the poems show the ascendent andthe end of the battle and misses out the actual war. This firstlyleaves the battle to the readers visual sensation so it can be interpreteddifferently, and secondly it makes the reader turn of theconsequences. Although Byrons poem doesnt show the battle it has abrutal and horrific image of the aftermath, the foam of his gaspinglay white on the turf. This makes the battle s... ...ay. On the Idle hillfinishes with two war instruments calling back from the battle. Thismay be reflecting back to the initial dreamy state. When it says,woman bore me, I will bob up it can be read in many different ways. Itcan be read into as a warning that war may rise again because it isinevitable. Or it can alternatively be read as there being a femaleinfluence in nature that will rise up. Altogether it is a positiveending that shows macrocosm versus evil. The Destruction ofSennacherib has a very religious ending. It ends with the all thesoldiers dead. God killed the Assyrians because they killed the hallowedpeople. There is a strong reference to nature that may be a referenceto God, Hath melted like snow.Both of the poems are cease extremely differently, On the idle hillis optimistic and Destruction of Sennacherib is pessimistic.