The Charge of the Light Brigade

• “Valley…


  of death”
• “Theirs not to make reply /…

  theirs not to reason why / theirs to do and die”
• “Jaws of death /…


  Mouth of hell”
• “Someone…


  Had blunder’d”
• “Noble…


  Six hundred”
• “Half…


  a league onwards”
• “Charge…


  For the guns”
• “Cannons…


  To the right of them, / cannons to the left of them, / cannons in front of them“
• ”plunged…


  In battery smoke”
• “Honour…


  Of the Light Brigade”
• Form

  • third person - seems like a story
  • Regular rhythm - fast pace, like the battle
  • rhyming couplets and triplets but also a few unrhyming lines - mirror horses stumbling and soldiers falling
• Poems is abt 


  Battle between British cavalry and Russian forces during the Crimean war
• Misunderstanding 


  Light brigade were ordered to advance into a valley surrounded by enemies while only armed w swords while the Russians had guns - virtually defenceless against the enemy
• Key themes:

  • Patriotism
  • War
  • Death, Mourning and Loss
  • Soldiers
  • Courage and Fear
  • Pride, Glory and Failure
• Feelings and attitudes in the poem:

  • Admiration - narratir admires the bravery and sacrifice of the men bc they obeyed their orders even tho they knew death was likely
  • Patriotism - men followed the orders bc it was their duty to their country - soeaker shows them as heroes
  • Horror- narrator horrified by events
• Poems to compare it to:

  • Bayonet charge