Charge Of The Light Brigade Flashcards
Form
Third person- like story.
Regular relentless rhythm creates fast pace imitating cavalry’s advance and energy of the battle.
Unrhymed lines- mirrors horse stumbling.
Lack of rhyme scheme hints at chaos of war.
Structure
Poem told in chronological order: Charge- first 3 stanzas Battle- 4th stanza Retreat- 5th Final stanza is short and summarises heroism of the brigade.
Repetition
‘Theirs not to…’
‘Theirs not to…’
‘Theirs not to…’
‘Cannon’
‘Cannon’
Cannon’
‘Flash’d’
‘Flash’d’
‘Honour’
‘Honour’
Repetition of ‘six hundred’ at the end of each stanza reinforces the idea of the large numbers of men involved.
Repetition creates a sense of impending doom and inevitability.
Heroic language
‘Boldly’ adverb
‘Charging’ verb
Emphasises men’s bravery.
Violent language
Powerful verbs and adjectives give a strong sense of the violence of the battle and uses sound to create a vivid, noisy, hellish setting.
‘Shatter’d and sunder’d’ sibilance- vicious.
‘Volley’d and thunder’d’ onomatopoeic verb suggest the noise from the cannons.
Feelings and attitudes
Admiration
‘horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well’
Patriotism
‘Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die’
Horror
‘Shot and shell’
Rhythm of galloping horse
‘Half a league, half a league
Half a league onward’
Rhythm sounds like galloping horse’s hooves - gives the impression that horses are unstoppable.
Personification of death
‘Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell’
Personification of jaws and death make them seem like a monster that the soldiers can’t escape from.
‘All the world wonder’d’
Double meaning:
people marvelled at their bravery
Or
Wondered why they’d been sent on the charge.
Written in 1854 in response to newspaper article about the battle.
Many were critical of the Crimean war, but this poem focusses on the bravery of the soldiers rather than the mistakes of military leaders.
Repetition of ‘six hundred’
‘Rode the six hundred’
Presented as one group with one purpose- lack of remorse for individuals (exposure)
‘Rode the six hundred’
‘Rode the six hundred’
Adds to sense of foreboding and reminds us of the number of soldiers.
‘Not the six hundred’
‘Left of six hundred’
‘Noble six hundred’
Reinforces the large numbers of men.
Repetition of ‘not’ and ‘left of’
‘But not
Not the six hundred’
Emphasises that some of the brigade have been killed.
Creates broken, stuttering effect making the speaker sound upset.
‘All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred’
Reminds us lives have been lost and makes poem sound sad.
Sibilance + sound imagery
‘Shot and shell’
Sibilance emphasises ammunition flying towards them.
‘Sabre stroke’
‘Shatter’d and sunder’d’
Sibilance sounds vicious- creates noisy, hellish setting
‘Volley’d and thunder’d’
Powerful, onomatopoeic verbs suggest the noise from the cannons.
Context
Crimean war
British cavalry (swords + cavalry on horseback)
Vs
Russian forces (guns)
British were defenceless + a misunderstanding meant the light brigade were ordered to advance.
