bayonet charge vs the charge of the light brigade comparison

Themes: conflict, reality of war, patriotism, bravery 

Tones: bewildered, desperate, tragic, haunting 

Both poems criticise the leaders of war, this is explicit in Bayonet charge but more subtle in Charge of the light brigade. There is the implication in both poems that propaganda is a powerful tool in the public attitude to war.

Bayonet charge structure

• begins in media res (we are plunged into action >> the soldier is thrown into action)

• Irregular stanzas (1st & 3rd are full of action. The 2nd slows down)

• Free verse >> lack of order in emotional charge of soldier

• Enjambment/caesura further >> the contrast between his movement/fear

• Caesura causes a sense of conflict/confusion, breaks up the flow & gives sense of halting breathing 

• Longer line lengths >> him rushing towards enemy whereas the shorter lines >> his hesitation/contemplation of his fate

• Poem doesn’t have a fluid rhythm >> the internal conflict between his duty/emotions

• To portray war as a crime against nature 

The charge of the light brigade structure 

• This poem takes on the form of a ​ballad​ which is a historic poetry form used to​ commemorate a story ​for future generations to hear. This poem fits this purpose and acts to ​memorialise​ the people who were killed.

• Tennyson uses ​dactylic dimeter ​(a long syllable followed by two short syllables) to mirror the rhythm of a horse running into battle.

•  This ​unrelenting rhythm​ creates a quick pace to glorify the action or alt. implies that the soldiers have no choice but to run into battle or that they are blindly obeying orders. The ​meter​ could also be interpreted to be used to create satirical humour as it is often seen as a lighthearted rhythm.

• The rhyme scheme is irregular and there are rhyming couplets between indented lines. The couplets create a sense of inevitability however, chaos is introduced by the irregular rhyme scheme.

• To support patriotic propaganda, promote death as a noble warrior but to…