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“The Charge of the Light Brigade” was written by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in response to a battle during the Crimean War (1853-1855). In this battle, a British cavalry unit—the “Light Brigade”—was commanded to charge against a Russian artillery unit.
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a narrative poem because it tells a story and does not follow a set pattern of rhyme or rhythm. It also features aspects of the ballad.
- Summary
- Structure and Form
- Themes
- Facts About The Charge of The Light Brigade
- Literary Devices in The Poem
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
- Similar Poetry
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennysoncaptures the famous attack made by six hundred cavaliers of the British “Light Brigade” on Russian soldiers in the Crimean War. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Tennyson presents the heroic battle between the English Light Brigade and the Russian army. Six hundred soldiers of the E...
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Tennyson is divided into six stanzas, 55 lines in total. The total number of lines in each stanza varies. The shortest stanza is the last one. The poem’s uneven structure, including varied stanza lengths and line indents, mimics the chaos of the battle it describes. The repetition and parallelismprovide c...
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Tennyson discovers the theme of patriotism, war, and nationalism. 1. Patriotism. The theme of patriotism is the most important aspect of the poem. Six hundred cavaliers of the Light Brigade didn’t hesitate to die on the battlefield. They knew they were going in the “valley of death” and there was no way t...
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Tennyson is about the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Tennyson wrote this poem on 2 December 1854. It got published on 9 December in The Examiner. During that time, he was the Poet Laureate of England. The poet wrote the poem when the English Light Brigade suffered badly in the Battle of Balac...
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Tennyson contains some significant literary devices. In the first two lines of the poem, the poet uses a palilogy. In the third line, the poet uses the metaphor of the battlefield in the phrase, “the valley of Death”. The poet capitalizes the first letter of “Death” in the same phrase. It means that here ...
Stanza One
The speaker reveals the subject of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade,’ which is the six hundred men who rode to their deaths. He claims that they were marching straight into the Valley of Death. The Valley of Death, of course, is a biblical reference to Psalm23. This could perhaps offer hope because Psalm 23 states, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me”. The speaker suggests that the men knew that they were marching to their de...
Stanza Two
With this stanza of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade,’ the speaker reveals the thoughts of the soldiers as they marched on. Though they knew that someone had made a mistake that would cost them all their lives, they pressed onward anyway, to do the duty that they came to do. They did not think that it was their place to respond to the mistake that was made, nor to even try to reason through why they were marching to sure deaths. Rather, they simply saw it as their duty to follow commands and...
Stanza Three
The speaker attests to their boldness as they rode “into the mouth of hell”. He speaks as one who was there and saw it all. The men knew that they were trapped. There were cannons on all sides of them, but still, they rode into the battle, and the speaker says that they “rode well”. The reader can imagine the brave young men, riding with their heads held high into a battle they were sure to lose. The six hundred men rode “into the jaws of death” with the proud valor of soldiers willing to die...
Like ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’by Alfred Tennyson there are some poems that reflect the theme of nationhood and war. Here is a list of a few of the poems. 1. Easter, 1916by William Butler Yeats – This poem by William Butler Yeats, is famous for its refrain, “All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.” This poem reiterates the m...
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry.
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is one of the rare instances of a Poet Laureate producing a good poem while in office. It was inspired by one of the greatest calamities in British military history: on October 25, 1854, the British Light Cavalry Brigade, comprising some 670 men, charged disastrously against some 25,000 Russian soldiers.
October 1854. The greatest spectacle but the most tragic event of the Crimean war took place at the Battle of Balaclava, the charge of the Light Brigade. After the French and British victory at the battle of Alma the allied forces headed south toward the Russian citadel of Sebastopol.
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Key learning points. The poem documents the lightly armed British cavalry receiving a "blunder'd" order and charging into enemy fire. Tennyson urges remembrance of the soldiers' actions, but also highlights the oversight that led to their deaths.
