Biographical and Historical: George Gordon Byron was born in London the year before the outbreak of the French Revolution. At the age of ten, upon the death of his grand-uncle he became Lord Byron. He traveled extensively through Europe, spending much time in Italy. At Pisa he formed a warm friendship for the poet Shelley. So deeply was he moved by his impulses toward liberty and freedom that in the summer of 1823 he left Genoa with a supply of arms, medicines, and money to aid the Greeks in their struggle for independence. In the following year he became commander-in-chief at Missolonghi, but he died of a fever before he had an opportunity to actually engage in battle. Hearing the news, the boy Tennyson, dreaming at Somersby on poetic greatness, crept away to weep and carve upon sandstone the words, "Byron is dead." Notes and Questions. In the first stanza why "pathless woods" and "lonely shore"? In the second and third stanzas Byron contrasts the ocean and the earth in their relation to man. Line 12--What two words require emphasis? Line 13--With what is "watery plain" contrasted? Line 14--With what is "thy" contrasted? Line 22--What word requires emphasis? In the fourth stanza what contrast does Byron make? What does the fifth stanza tell? The sixth? Which stanza do you like best? Why? Which lines are the most beautiful? "The Invincible Armada"--an immense Spanish fleet consisting of one hundred thirty vessels, sailed from Corunna in 1588 and attacked the English fleet but suffered defeat. This event furnished Southey the inspiration for a poem, "The Spanish Armada." "Trafalgar"--one of Lord Nelson's great sea-fights, occurring off Cape Trafalgar on the coast of Spain in 1805. Here he defeated the combined fleets of France and Spain, but was himself killed. Words and Phrases for Discussion. "unknelled" "uncoffined" "unknown" "playful spray" "oak leviathans" "yeast of waves" "These are thy toys" "The Armada's pride" "spoils of Trafalgar" "rock-built" "glasses itself" "fathomless" * * * * * THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB 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 flown, 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 passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!