Charge of the light brigade

Question 1

context:
1. Battle
2. What happened
3. Tennyson’s status and impacts

Answer 1

1. Battle of Balaclava in Crimean war between Russia vs Britain + France
2. Mistake from commander caused 600 brits to die in the light brigade- suicide march. serious questioning by public
3. Tennyson was poet laureate so had to write from royal POV- so made event positive but last stanza hints at questioning- evidenced by anaphora of honour to portray soldiers as brave

Question 2

summary + ORDER

Answer 2

describes this charge and the death of 600 as they enter, realise it is a trap and then try to leave. final stanza focuses on the honour of soldiers and whether it was necessarry.

chronological order- charge to battle to retreat and then heroism

Question 3

narrator

Answer 3

3rd person- story

Question 4

rhythm

Answer 4

dactylic rhythm creates a fast pace mimicing the advance of cavalry

Question 5

rhyme

Answer 5

rhyming couplets drive the poeam forward
broken by unrhymed lines - mirror falling of soliders
overall lack = chaos of war

Question 6

‘H— a ——-‘ x3 opening

Answer 6

Half a league
anaphoric start creates rhetoric to already idolise the soldiers and it shows their sacrifice.

Question 7

“All in the ——– of ——”

Answer 7

All in the valley of death
biblical allusion to show ther sacrifice will get them a place in heaven
alternatively emphasises that their fate is death

Question 8

Refrain ‘—- ——–’

Answer 8

Each stanza ends with six hundred
shows the magnitude of the loss- continually reminding us of the scale of the blunder. on the other hand cyclical structure explicitly shows magnitude of hounour, also shows how the loss haunts Tennyson

Question 9

‘Theirs but to – and —’

Answer 9

Theirs but to do and die
shows the ineviytability of death and shows the soldiers obedience despite them realising that some one had blunder’d- shows their honour and bravery but also the inequality of war and negative aspects

Question 10

‘A– the w—– won——’

Answer 10

All the world wondered
dual meaning:
whether everyone marvelled at soldiers sacrifice
or whether they are wondering about the stupidity of the soldiers
disruption of dactyls and repitions of this phrase shows how the decision has affected tenyson and is playing on his mind

Question 11

‘j– of d—-‘
‘m—- of h—’

Answer 11

jaws of death
mouth of hell
imagery that personifies death and makes death a monster that soldiers will never escape
Shows bravery

Question 12

’s—- s—– S——– and s——’

Answer 12

sabre stroke Shattered and sunder’d
sibilance = harshness of war

Question 13

reality of conflict

Answer 13

• sorrowful - death of 600
• soldiers helpless- theirs but to do and die
• uneccessary- all the world wondered
• brutal- jaws of death

Question 15

effects of conflict

Answer 15

• devestating- soldiers die refrain 600- emphasise loss.
• inescapable- all rode into the valley of death
• could be avoided- all the world wondered
• inspire bravery- honour