The charge of the light Brigae Flashcards
Plot summary
The poem describes a brigade of 600 soldiers who are ordered to charge into a valley surrounded by enemy forces armed with cannons. Despite knowing the near-certainty of death, the soldiers obey orders and ride into the “valley of Death.” The poem vividly portrays the chaos and violence of the battle, highlighting the soldiers’ courage and sense of duty. Ultimately, many are killed, but Tennyson honours their sacrifice and calls on readers to remember and respect their heroism.
Context
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Tennyson was written in 1854 and is based on a real event during the Crimean War (1853-1856), specifically the Battle of Balaclava. Alfred Tennyson was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom at the time. He wrote this poem to honour the soldiers’ bravery and to reflect on the tragic consequences of the charge. It was published just six weeks after the event, showing its immediate impact.
Structure and form
Narrative Poem: The poem tells a story, describing the events of the charge in chronological order. This helps the reader follow the sequence of events and understand the soldiers’ experience.
Six Stanzas: The poem is divided into six stanzas, each varying in length. The number six could symbolically represent the 600 soldiers of the Light Brigade.
Regular Rhythm: The poem uses a dactylic meter (a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables), which mimics the galloping of horses. This regular rhythm creates a sense of inevitability and mirrors the soldiers’ relentless advance.
Narrated in Third Person, making it seem more like a story than an actual event.
The poem has a mix of regular and irregular rhyme schemes. While some lines rhyme, others do not, which can mirror the chaos and unpredictability of the battle. The irregularity in rhyme can also reflect the confusion and disorder of the charge, as well as the tragic outcome.
Language
Vivid imagery is used to depict the battlefield, such as “jaws of Death” and “mouth of Hell,” which convey the danger and horror faced by the soldiers.
The language is both heroic and somber, celebrating the soldiers’ bravery while acknowledging the tragic loss of life.
“Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred”
Significance: The metaphor “valley of Death” highlights the danger and inevitability of the soldiers’ fate. The phrase “rode the six hundred” is repeated throughout the poem, emphasizing the collective bravery and unity of the soldiers. A biblical allusion to Psalm 23 making the poem more solemn and significant.
“Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the left of them, / Cannon in front of them”
Significance: The repetition of “cannon” underscores the overwhelming firepower the soldiers faced. It creates a vivid image of their helplessness and the inescapable nature of their situation, while also highlighting their courage in charging forward despite the odds.
“Theirs not to make reply, / Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”
Significance: This quote emphasizes the soldiers’ obedience and sense of duty. They follow orders without question, even when it leads to their deaths. The repetition of “theirs” reinforces their lack of control over their fate.
“Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell”
These vivid metaphors depict the extreme danger the soldiers faced. The imagery of “jaws” and “mouth” suggests that they are being consumed by the horrors of war, emphasizing the brutality and inevitability of their sacrifice.
“Honour the charge they made! / Honour the Light Brigade
The repetition of “honour” serves as a call to remember and respect the soldiers’ bravery. It reflects the poem’s central theme of heroism and sacrifice, urging readers to celebrate their courage despite the tragic outcome.
“When can their glory fade?”
This rhetorical question challenges the reader to reflect on the lasting impact of the soldiers’ sacrifice. It suggests that their bravery should never be forgotten and that their glory is eternal.
“All the world wondered”
This line appears twice in the poem, emphasizing the global recognition of the soldiers’ bravery. It also subtly critiques the senselessness of the charge, as the world “wondered” at both their courage and the folly of the orders that led to their deaths.
Comparisons
“Bayonet Charge” by Ted Hughes
Theme: The chaos and fear of battle.
Comparison: Both poems depict the intensity of combat, but Hughes’ poem focuses on the individual experience of a soldier in the midst of battle, capturing his fear and confusion. In contrast, Tennyson’s poem emphasizes the collective bravery of the Light Brigade and their unwavering obedience to orders
“Exposure” by Wilfred Owen
Theme: The harsh realities of war.
Comparison: Owen’s poem portrays the brutal conditions of trench warfare and the psychological toll on soldiers, contrasting with Tennyson’s more celebratory tone. While “Exposure” emphasizes the futility and suffering of war, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” focuses on the nobility of the soldiers’ sacrifice.
Compare the ways poets present the effect of conflict in ‘The Charge of the Light
Brigade’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’.
The Devastating Effects of Conflict in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Exposure’
Both Alfred Lord Tennyson’s ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and Wilfred Owen’s ‘Exposure’ explore the brutal realities of war, but they present starkly different perspectives on its effects. Tennyson glorifies the soldiers’ unwavering bravery in the face of certain death, using a rhythmic, galloping meter (“Half a league, half a league onward”) to mimic cavalry charges and create a sense of heroic momentum. The repetition of “rode the six hundred” emphasizes their collective sacrifice, while biblical allusions (“Valley of Death”) frame their deaths as noble. However, Tennyson’s patriotic tone—written as Poet Laureate to commemorate a Crimean War blunder—masks the true horror of the charge, focusing instead on the glorified spectacle of war. In contrast, Owen’s Exposure strips away all heroism, revealing war’s psychological and physical torment through harsh sensory imagery (“merciless iced east winds that knive us”). The irregular half-rhymes (“nervous”/”knive us”) and cyclical structure (“But nothing happens”) reflect the soldiers’ stagnant suffering, trapped in the trenches of WWI. Where Tennyson’s soldiers die in dramatic action, Owen’s men are slowly erased by nature’s indifference—their conflict not against enemies, but the frozen futility of war itself.
The poems’ contrasting depictions of death highlight their divergent themes. Tennyson’s euphonic diction (“boldly they rode and well”) aestheticizes battle, turning the Light Brigade’s slaughter into a sonorous elegy. The anaphora (“Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the left of them”) creates a relentless, almost musical barrage, romanticizing the chaos. This idealized portrayal reflects Victorian Britain’s nationalistic fervor, where soldiers were expected to die unquestioningly. Owen, a WWI soldier, dismantles this myth by focusing on death’s banal cruelty. His personified nature (“frost will fasten on the mud and us”) is a more lethal foe than any army, rendering human conflict meaningless. The juxtaposition of “brain aches” with “dull rumour of some other war” underscores soldiers’ isolation, their deaths unnoticed. While Tennyson’s men perish as heroes, Owen’s become mere “shivering ranks of grey”—anonymous and dehumanized.
Structurally, both poems use repetition to opposite effects. Tennyson’s refrains (“Rode the six hundred”) build a liturgical quality, elevating the Brigade’s sacrifice to near-religious reverence. The regular stanzas mirror military order, reinforcing the poem’s patriotic agenda. Owen’s repetitions, however, convey monotony and despair. The recurring line “But nothing happens” becomes a nihilistic mantra, mocking the war’s pointless attrition. Tennyson’s dactylic dimeter gallops toward glory; Owen’s broken rhythm stumbles toward oblivion. These forms reflect their contexts: Tennyson, distantly honoring a cavalry charge, crafts a public memorial, while Owen, writing from the trenches, offers a private scream against war’s dehumanization. Ultimately, Charge celebrates duty’s illusion, while Exposure exposes its tragic cost—one a rallying cry, the other a warning.
Theme of Identity
Tennyson presents identity as collective and sacrificial, subsuming individual soldiers into the unified, anonymous “six hundred.” The repetitive refrain (“Rode the six hundred”) erases personal distinctions, transforming the men into symbolic figures of heroic duty. Military jargon (“Forward, the Light Brigade!”) reinforces their identity as soldiers first, humans second, while the biblical allusion to the “Valley of Death” elevates them to martyr-like status. Tennyson’s focus on their unquestioning obedience (“Theirs not to reason why”) critiques blind loyalty to command, yet the poem’s galloping rhythm and exclamatory tone (“Honour the charge they made!”) ultimately glorify this loss of self to nationalistic ideals. Written as Poet Laureate, the poem reflects Victorian Britain’s celebration of military sacrifice, where identity was defined by service and honor in death.
Theme of the reality of conflict
Tennyson presents a glorified illusion of war, masking its true brutality through rhythmic, heroic language that celebrates sacrifice while ignoring its futility. The poem’s galloping dactylic meter (“Half a league, half a league onward”) mimics cavalry charge momentum, creating an almost musical depiction of battle that aestheticizes violence. While Tennyson acknowledges the military blunder (“Someone had blundered”), the focus remains on the soldiers’ unquestioning bravery (“Theirs not to reason why”), reinforcing Victorian ideals of duty over individual survival. The repetition of “Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the left of them” sanitizes the chaos of war into a symmetrical, almost choreographed spectacle. However, the biblical allusion (“Valley of Death”) hints at the grim reality beneath the poem’s patriotic veneer—these men are being slaughtered, not triumphing. Written as Poet Laureate to commemorate a Crimean War failure, the poem perpetuates the myth of noble warfare, obscuring the truth that soldiers died for a meaningless command.
