The Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)

CONTEXT

• The poem describes a British disaster that took place in the Crimean war due to a miscommunication.
• As Poet laureate, Tennyson attempts to present this in the best possible light, seeing the war as a heroic defeat.

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

          Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'

Charge for the guns! he said:

Into the valley of Death

          Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

          Some one had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs mot to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

          Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them

Cannon in front of them

          Volley'd and thunder'd:

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

          Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air

Sabring the gunner there,

Charging an army, while

          All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre-stroke

          Shatter'd and sunder'd

Then they rode back, but not

          Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

          Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

          Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

          All the world wonder'd.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

          Noble six hundred!

"Was there a man dismay'd?" - the soldiers didn't feel a cause for concern because they were simply following orders, and could not ask questions.

"Theirs not to make reply,/ Theirs not to reason why,/ Theirs but to do and die:" - Anaphora emphasizes that it was their fight and that they should be honoured. Rhyme binds it all together.

"Into the jaws of Death,/ Into the mouth of Hell" - personifying death makes it seem more dangerous but shows the soldiers' bravery.

"Flash'd all their sabres bare,/ Flash'd as they turn'd in air/ Sabring the gunners there" - Flash'd is like a light from above, God is with them. The plosives and sibilance is 'sabres bare' creates the sound of the swords.