the charge of the light bridge

Question 1

what happened in the poem

Answer 1

• after a blunder by field Marshall hundreds of British cavalrymen were ordered to advance to a valley ringed by enemy soldiers
• they were armed with only sabers, the light brigade as heavily defeated by the Russians who had used really heavy artillery.
• the British had suffered a very heavy defeat and lost hundreds of men

Question 2

form, structure and context

Answer 2

• it has 6 stanzas.
• the rhyme is fast paced and lively which s created using rhyming couplets and triplets. the unrhymed lines could reflect the stumbling, struggling of the horses and cavalrymen.
• the final line in each stanza refers to 6 hundred men.
• Tennyson was a poet laureate. the poem was written before he knew the outcome of the war.
• the Crimean war was the first to be extensively covered by the press.
• Victorians viewed war very differently than now a days, it was genuinely seen as a heroic way to die inn a war, in cold blood for your country and was widely celebrated.

Question 3

key quotes

Answer 3

• all in the valley of death rode the six hundred
• someone had blunder’d
• theirs not to make reply…..to reason why
• storm’d at with shot and shell
• into the jaws of death/into the mouth of hell
• flash’d all their sabers bare
• all the wold wonder’d
• horse and hero fell/they had fought so well
• honour the light bridge/noble six hundred

Question 4

language and themes

Answer 4

• the 6 hundred is used as a mentonym for the light bridge. they will be remembered as a group and not as individuals
• the poem is a symbol of heroism, patriotism and blind allegiance to the flag , men blithely following orders through the unquestioning faith they had in their leaders.
• the used repetition, rhymes, rhythms, monosyllables and alliteration which reflected the maelstrom.

Question 5

What poems can you do a comparison with the conflict and reality of war in

Answer 5

• poppies
• remains
• war photographer
• exposure
• bayonet charge