Byron’s poem dramatizes the supernatural defeat of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, when “the Angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead”
Spare the Rod
In chapter one, Aunt Polly, speaking of Tom, declares “He’s full of the Old Scratch…” Old Scratch was a folk name used for Satan, mostly in the southern part of the United States before the 20th century. In chapter 33, Tom mentions “these new-fangled things they call lucifer matches,” also a reference to Satan. ISAIAH […]
Leviathan
Entry 116 quotes Ishmael’s description of the interior of a whale, in which he mentions “leviathan.” Though portrayed in Ishmael’s description as a whale, the Biblical Leviathan is a large sea creature described by God Himself in JOB 41 : 1-34 as overwhelming…
Bruised Reed
The last stanza of the slave mother’s lament over her daughters who have been sold as slaves begins, “Gone, gone,—sold and gone, / To the rice-swamp dank and lone; / By the holy love He beareth; / By the bruised reed He spareth; / Oh, may He, to whom alone / All their cruel wrongs […]
Eyes that See and Ears that Hear
Patrick Henry asks his fellow Virginians, “Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?” The idea of having eyes, but not seeing and having ears but not hearing can be found throughout both the […]