Charge Of The Light Brigade Flashcards
What is the poem about?
Based on real events in the Crimean War (1853-1856) -innocent men were sent into Russian gunfire on horseback and died due to a wrong order made by Sergeants. Tennyson was Poet Laureate at the time so needed to capture public mood by glorifying the 672 soldiers however they are never given an identity
How does the poem begin?
‘Half a league, half a league, // Half a league onward, // All in the Valley of Death // Rode the six hundred’
What does enjambment reveal?
Resilience of the soldiers, they keep carrying on
When does the volta occur?
End of the fourth stanza. ‘Then they rode back, but not // Not the six hundred’
What is the rhyme and rhythm of the poem like?
Rhythm creates a fast pace imitating the cavalry’s advance and energy of the battle, rhyming couplets and triplets drive the poem forward but the momentum is broken by unrhymed lines which could mirror the horses stumbling and the soldiers falling. The overall lack of a rhyme scheme hints at the chaos of war
How does the poem end?
‘Honour the charge they made! // Honour the Light Brigade, // Noble six hundred!’
Why is the last stanza shorter?
This focuses on honouring/glorifying the six hundred however their glory was short lived
How do we view the soldiers at the heart of the poem?
As heroes. ‘Flash’d all their sabres bare, // flash’d as they turn’d in air // sabring the gunners there’ Synaesthesia of the sound of the sword and the image of sun glinting on it (promotes the image of the halo above them) This paints them as resilient due to the juxtaposition between sabres and gunners- they are no match for the gunners
Why is the poem written in third person?
Sounds like a story, the soldiers are the fairytale heroes
What does the Volta reveal?
Repetition of ‘not’ emphasises the fact that some of the brigade have been killed and also sounds like a stutter making it sound as if the reader is upset. Repetition of ‘six hundred’ again emphasises the idea of large numbers of men involved, symbolises their realisation that they are vulnerable and hopeless
What does the beginning of the poem reveal?
Regular rhythm mirrors cavalry charging into battle (galloping hooves), anaphora portrays the men’s resilience, valley of death foreshadows something bad is going to happen and this phrase is repeated throughout ‘Into the valley of death // rode the six hundred’ which suggests it is inevitable they are going to die, creates a sense of impending doom
