Charge Of The Light Brigade

Question 1

“Half a league,half a league,half a league onward,”

Answer 1

Uses repetition to convey the image of a army marching.

Question 2

“Not tho’ the soldier knew someone had blunder’d.Theirs not to make reply,Theirs not to reason why,Theirs but to do and die.”

Answer 2

Shows that the Light Brigade knew that the orders were suicidal,but they follow them anyway for their own safety against the leader.

Question 3

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

Answer 3

The repetition of “cannon” is used to highlight inequality of the opposing sides.

One’s a team of 600 on horses with swords - the other is an army with lots of cannons.

Question 4

“Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell rode the six hundred..”

Answer 4

The vivid imagery used by Tennyson is used to highlight the danger and the sacrifice they had to make.

Again, it shows how unfair the fight is to the Light Brigade.

Question 5

"Flashed all their sabres bare, 
Flashed as they turned in air 
Sabring the gunners there, 
Charging an army, while 
All the world wondered. 
Plunged in the battery-smoke 
Right through the line they broke; 
Cossack and Russian 
Reeled from the sabre stroke 
Shattered and sundered. "

Answer 5

The whole of stanza four has rhyming triplets to emphasise the bravery of the Light Brigade.

Also, the repetition of “not” is used to emphasise the great lost of life the Charge cost.

Question 6

“Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade! Noble six hundred!”

Answer 6

Alfred Lord Tennyson changes the tone in the last stanza to produce a tone change at his disbelief at how brave they were.

He ends the poem with the message of “Honour their bravery.”