LIT2 - Poetry - The Charge of the Light Brigade Flashcards
Who wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade? Give some context around it:
-Lord Tennyson (poet laureate at the time)
-based on the Crimean War, 19th C
-glorifies the experience of military conflict, and contrasts the power of the leaders to the powerless soldiers who had to obey them
Give 6 quotes for The Charge of the Light Brigade:
-All in the valley of Death
-Some one had blunder’d
-Theirs not to make reply…reason why…do or die
-Cannons to the right of them…left of them…in front of them, Volley’d and thunder’d, Storm’d at with shot and shell
-All the world wondered
-Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!
All in the valley of Death
-biblical reference to Psalm 23 highlights the awe-inspiring nature of the battle, and how the soldiers’ bravery should be respected/remembered
-capitalised D makes death a proper noun, and echoed later by “jaws of Death” to reinforce the sense of impending doom
Some one had blunder’d
-criticism of the aristocratic commanders who had no military knowledge (subtle as he was poet laureate, and had the patriotic duty to celebrate the heroic act)
-shortened 2nd dactyl in dactylic dimeter, representing a dramatic shortening of the soldiers’ lives
Theirs not to make reply…reason why…do or die
-rhyming triplet helps the reader remember the soldiers and the suicidal mission they had undertaken
-distances reader from the soldiers by using repeated third person plural pronoun “theirs”, to highlight their dedication to the mission and how they had no choice but to obey
Cannons to the right of them…left of them…in front of them, Volley’d and thunder’d, Storm’d at with shot and shell
-vivid imagery immerses reader in the battlefield, alongside the dactylic dimeter used to sound like horses riding into battle
-repetition of “cannons” to emphasise the futility and suicidal nature of the attack
-lexical field of a storm, implying the chaos that ensued that day
All the world wondered
2 interpretations
-one emphasises the way the world was in awe and amazement at the soldiers bravery, while the other wonders why such a poor decision was made to send them into battle
-repeated just before their bravery is praised at the end of the poem as another subtle reminder
Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!
-grand, patriotic ending to celebrate
-forces the reader to venerate the soldiers’ bravery, and to glorify their sacrifices
venerate - to regard with great respect
Describe the structure and form in the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade:
-ballad form - usually sung aloud to tell a story, and has a refrain (“six hundred”) to tell the reader to never forget the importance of the event, but also the stupidity of the aristocratic leadership
-dactylic dimeter used to engage the reader in the scene, and to let them fully appreciate the bravery and unquestioning obedience of the soldiers
