Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Tennyson

Question 1

List 4 quotations.

Answer 1

1. ‘Someone had blunder’d’
2. ‘Theirs not to make reply
   Theirs not to reason why
   Theirs but to do and die’
3. ‘Canon to the right of them
   Canon to the left of them
   Canon behind them’
4. ‘Rode the six hundred’

Question 2

Analyse:
‘Someone had blunder’d’

Answer 2

Hiding the culprit who gave the wrong command.
- Tennyson was poet Laureate so he had to make the higher powers look good so there wouldn’t be an uprising.
- Ambiguity/ being ambiguous.

Question 3

Analyse:
‘Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die’

Answer 3

• Dehumanising the soldiers through ‘Theirs’ as there is no individuality/ collectivisation.
• No authority.
• Anaphora/ repetition.

Question 4

Analyse:
‘Canon to the right of them
Canon to the left of them
Canon behind them’

Answer 4

• Vast amount of canons shows great peril and the bravery of soldiers.
• No caesura shows no break in canon fire.
• Anaphora/ Refrain as it is repeated twice throughout the poem/ Repetition.

Question 5

Analyse:
‘Rode the six hundred’

Answer 5

• Collectivisation as they are referred to collectively.
• No identity, just puppets for the powerful.