''The Fall of Nineveh'' is a long poem in

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...

Edwin Atherstone Edwin Atherstone (1788–1872) was a poet and novelist. His works, which were planned on an imposing scale, attracted some temporary attention and applause, but are now forgotten. His chief poem, '' The Fall of Nineveh'', consisting of thirty ...

. It consists of thirty books preceded by a Prelude. The poem was written over many years and published 1828–1868. It tells of the battles and events during the war between the coalition of Medes and Babylonians against the Assyrians.

Plot

The main heroes are

Sardanapalus Sardanapalus (; sometimes spelled Sardanapallus) was, according to the Greek writer Ctesias, the last king of Assyria, although in fact Ashur-uballit II (612–605 BC) holds that distinction. Ctesias' book ''Persica'' is lost, but we know of its ...

, King of Nineveh and of all the Assyrian empire;

Arbaces Arbaces was the name of more than one person of classical antiquity: Founder of Median empire According to Ctesias, Arbaces was one of the generals of Sardanapalus, king of Assyria and founder of the Median empire about 830 BC. Opinion on him is ...

, the prince of Medes; and a Babylonian priest, Belesis. Sardanapalus is portrayed as a womanizer, coward, and cruel tyrant. When defeated by Arbaces he burns his own palace with all his concubines inside and dies in the fire. All Nineveh is destroyed.

Excerpt

The poem can be interpreted as praise of modern democracy. It begins: Of Nineveh the mighty city of old, The queen of all the nations,—at her throne Kings worshipp'd, and from her their subject crowns, Humbly obedient, held, and on her state Submiss attended, nor such servitude Opprobrious named—from that high eminence How, like a star, she fell, and passed away,— Such the high matter of my song shall be.Book the First, lines 1-8, in .

Notes

References

* ''The Fall of Nineveh. A Poem by Edwin Atherstone''. Second Edition: Dilligently Corrected and Otherwise Improved, In Two Volumes, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London 1868. * review of the first edition in''The Monthly Review'' from May to August Inclusive, 1828, Volume VIII, New and Improved Series, G. Henderson, London 1828. Epic poems in English English-language poems Historical poems 19th-century poems {{UK-poem-stub