Charge Of The Light Brigade

Question 1

“Half a league, half a league, half a league” (3)

Answer 1

Double meaning:
• League is about 3 miles, shows how far they have come
• can show quality, that they are not up to the challenge ahead

Question 2

“Valley of death” (2)

Answer 2

• Biblical allusion

* Shows the horror of what they now face - connotation of hell

Question 3

“Rode the six hundred” (2)

Answer 3

• Repetition

* builds the tension and drags out the charge

Question 4

“Was there a man dismay’d”

Answer 4

• Rhetorical question about whether any if them are worried

Question 5

“Theirs not make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of death Rode the six hundred” (2)

Answer 5

• Repetition of “theirs” and “six hundred” objectifies them as a symbol rather than just men
• Helps the tone become more solemn to show impending doom

Question 6

“Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them” (2)

Answer 6

• Cannon is a direct link to war and conflict - demonstrates how the odds are against them
• Repetition to show scale of guns against them

Question 7

“Boldly they rode”

Answer 7

• contrast with the scale of odds against them, emphasises futility
• Sibilance to imply the swiftness of the charge

Question 8

“Storm’d at with shot and shell”

Answer 8

• Perhaps hyperbole of the amount of fire making it is easier for the reader to understand

Question 9

“Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell”

Answer 9

Personifies death, used to exaggerate the futility and bravery of soldiers that they going to die

Question 10

“All the world wondered”

Answer 10

• Hyperbole - exaggerates how bad the mistake was

Question 11

“Cossack and Russian reeled from the sabre stroke shattered and sundered” (2)

Answer 11

• Cossack and Russian are the enemy

* “shattered and sundered” connotes with destruction and devastation

Question 12

“Not the six hundred” (2)

Answer 12

• Change in tone with “not”

* Implies that most of the six hundred have died

Question 13

“Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them”

Answer 13

• Repetition from before - gives the poem a parallel to mirror the charge as they now run away

Question 14

“While horse and hero fell”

Answer 14

Glorify - the poet makes the men more like symbols of bravery than real men

Question 15

“Back from the the mouth of hell”

Answer 15

Mirrors the third stanza to emphasise the bravery and loss

Question 16

“When can their glory fade”

Answer 16

• Rhetorical question - poet isn’t sad that they are dead more so concerned with their glory

Question 17

“Noble six hundred”

Answer 17

• Imperative - ordering people to give their respect

Question 18

Themes (3)

Answer 18

• Poem is about war, life and death, sacrifice and folly
• poem Naturally links to conflict and is effective at showing peoples views on war at the time
• Poem contains lots of reference to biblical/religious ideas as well as bravery and fear

Question 19

Structure (3)

Answer 19

• Written in dimeter and dactylic - there are two distresses in each line means that two beats or syllables which is read is read with more force
• Lots of Repetition and divided into 6 stanzas - perhaps to show the different stages in the battle
• Military rhyme - similar to sound of marching drums of horse hooves