Charge of the Light Brigade Quotes

Question 1

‘Half a league, half a league, half a league’

Answer 1

repetition of distance emphasises how far they have to go and creates a sense of their exposure and vulnerability

Question 2

‘Rode the six hundred’

Answer 2

number is repeated throughout the poem to emphasise the number of lives lost

Question 3

‘Was there a man dismay’d?’

Answer 3

Rhetorical question implies that there is some doubt in the soldiers mind

Question 4

‘Some one had blunder’d’

Answer 4

this foreshadows the military mistake about to occur

Question 5

‘Valley of death’

Answer 5

a biblical allusion creates a grand sense of scale as well as foreshadowing death

Question 6

‘Canon […] canon […] canon’

Answer 6

repetition emphasises the harsh military machinery surrounding them

Question 7

‘Storm’d at with shot and shell’

Answer 7

use of sibilants creates a sinister tone, increasing the aggressive tone of the violence being described

Question 8

‘Flash’d […] Flash’d’

Answer 8

the fricatives and sibilants used in this emphatic repetition highlight the brutality of the situation

Question 9

‘Canon […] canon […] canon’

Answer 9

again repeated to emphasise the harsh, mechanical nature of war

Question 10

‘When can their glory fade?’

Answer 10

Rhetorical question alludes to the poem being a piece of propaganda

Question 11

‘Honour […] honour’

Answer 11

this shows how the poem is glorifying war

Question 12

‘Noble six hundred’

Answer 12

the use of an imperative closes the poem with the intention of glorifying the soldiers