The Charge of The Light

Brigade

Prepared by :
Wirda Anina,
SMK Marudi, Baram,
Sarawak
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
(6 August 1809 6 October 1892)
 II
Forward, the Light

THE CHARGE Brigade!

Was there a man dismayed?

OF THE LIGHT Not though the soldier knew

Someone had blundered.

BRIGADE Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
I Half a league, half a
Rode the sixCannon
hundred.to right
of them,
league,
Half a league onward, Cannon to left of them,
III
All in the valley of Death Cannon in front of them
Rode the six hundred. Volleyed and
Forward, the Light thundered;
Brigade!
Charge for the guns! he
Stormed at with shot
said. and shell,
Into the valley of Death Boldly they rode and
Rode the six hundred. well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
SYNOPSIS
 Stanza 1
Lines 1-2
Half a league, half a league,
Half
This a league
poem startsonward,
with the same three words, "Half
a league" repeated three times.
First of all, what does that mean? Well, a league is
an old way to measure distance, and it was equal
to about 3 miles. So half a league is roughly a
mile and a half.
Second of all, why start a poem like this? Well, we
think it sets up a nice rhythm, a kind of rolling,
hypnotic sound. Maybe even a bit like a military
march:Left! Left! Left, right, left!
We also think these opening lines make the
speaker of the poem sound exhausted, like he is
at the end of a race, just trying to force himself
through the last few laps. That mood will be really
important later in the poem
Line 3
All in the valley of Death

Now this isn't half a league on a sunny day in

the park. Nope, it turns out we're traveling in
"the valley of Death." Scary, huh?
We don't know exactly what that means at
this point, but it's sure meant to make us feel
a little scared and uncertain.
Line 4
Rode the six hundred.

Tennyson is slowly introducing us to the

setting and the action of the poem.
Notice that he isn't being too specific. We
already know that someone is covering a
certain distance in a scary place. Now we
learn that there are six hundred people, and
that they are riding, probably on horseback.
We mean, would you want to take your
bicycle out for a spin in the valley of Death?
We'll get more details soon, but things are
already taking shape.
Line 5
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
Now someone speaks, shouting out a military order to
move forward. We don't know who this fellow is, but he
introduces the heroes of this poem, the fearless men of
the Light Brigade. Who are these guys?
Well, they are a group of soldiers a "brigade" is a way of
dividing up an army.
They are "cavalry" soldiers, meaning they are riding on
horseback.
Finally, they are called "Light" to separate them from the
"Heavy Brigade," another kind of cavalry unit at the time.
Also, Tennyson's poem is based on real events. In 1854,
there was a Charge of the Light Brigade during the
Crimean War.
Line 6
Charge for the guns!" he said.

Imagine you're a soldier in 1854. We think

"charge for the guns" would probably be the
last thing you'd want to hear. That sounds
dangerous, right? Especially if you're on a
horse. Most folks would probably rather
chargeaway from the guns.
Who is this guy shouting out such a crazy
order? We think it might be The Commanding
Officer, and we think Tennyson left him
invisible on purpose, to keep us focused on
the amazing, tough guys in the Light Brigade.
Line 7-8
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

The persona ends the first section of the

poem with a little refrain, a kind of recap of
what we've learned so far (in lines 3-4).
The brigade has been ordered into the valley,
and they're riding in, even though they know
that guns and "Death" are waiting for them.
 Stanza 2
Line 9
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

The order is repeated. The speaker really

wants us to focus on those words, on the
command to move forward. The men are
being sent to their doom.
Again, we don't know who's giving the orders
here, but this disembodied voice might make
us pause and think about why these brave
men are being sent into "the valley of Death."
Line 10
Was there a man dismayed?

Now we're trying to get a peek into the heads

of these soldiers, trying to imagine how it
must feel to charge toward death.
The speaker asks if any of the soldiers were
"dismayed." In this case, to be dismayed
means to lose your courage, to be overcome
by terror or sadness. That would be a pretty
normal reaction to a situation like this.
Line 11-12
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Of course the Light Brigade is too tough and loyal to feel
dismayed.
That first word, "not," implies that these men don't feel
discouraged at all. They're ready to do their job, even
though the order might be crazy.
This is a really important point in this poem. The soldiers
aren't dumb. They know this charge isn't a good idea,
that someone has made a mistake, has "blundered."
This is as close as the poem gets to criticizing the men
who ordered this attack. The speaker is no revolutionary,
but we think you can feel some anger at the
commanders simmering under this poem, especially at
this moment.
Lines 13-15
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
This is a famous group of lines, and for good reason.
Do you see how they fit together, the way they share
the same first word and the same rhyming sound at
the end? Do you see how simple they are, too?
There's no showing off, no fancy words (in fact almost
all the words in these lines are one syllable).
The speaker uses these lines to sum up all of the
honest, humble heroism of these men. They're just
doing their job. That job doesn't let permit them to
talk back to their commanders ("make reply") or to
figure out the point of the attack ("reason why"). All
they can do is to ride and fight and possibly die ("do
and die").
Line 16-17
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

These last two lines are the same as the last

two lines in the first stanza. In poetry, that's
called a refrain (like the chorus in a song).
It emphasizes the main action of the poem,
which is these men riding to their death. It
also gives a smooth, dignified rhythm to the
poem.
 Stanza 3
Line 18-20
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
The valley of Death turns out to be just about as lousy
as it sounds. The soldiers are surrounded by enemy
cannon, left, right, and front. Bad news for the Light
Brigade.
Notice how Tennyson stretches this simple information
out over three lines. What effect does that have?
Well, for one thing, it echoes the three lines in the
section above (13-15), which also all start with the
same word.
It also makes the feeling of being surrounded much
more intense. It's almost as if we are right there,
turning our heads right, left, and forward, and seeing
cannon everywhere. Scary, huh?
Line 21
Volleyed and thundered;

A little vocab here: a "volley" from a cannon

is just a round of firing.
So these huge walls of cannon all around
them are firing, and making a sound like
thunder.
Line 22
Stormed at with shot and shell,

The soldiers in the Light Brigade are being

"stormed at," by gunfire, an image that picks
up on the word "thundered" in the line we just
read.
The "shot" (bullets) and "shell" (big
explosives fired from cannon) are a violent,
noisy, destructive force that reminds the
speaker of a storm.
Line 23
Boldly they rode and well,

These guys aren't scared of some gunfire,

though. In fact, they ride "boldly" (bravely)
even though this is looking more and more
like a suicide mission.
The point of this poem is to show us how
heroic these men were.
Line 24
Into the jaws of Death,

Tennyson has a lot of images for this scary

valley, and he brings some more of them in
here. Now the valley of Death becomes the
"jaws of Death."
We'll admit it's not a super-original image, but
it works well here. It's almost as if these guys
were riding into the mouth of some kind of
ferocious animal.
Lines 25-26
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
This is the spot (at the end of the stanza) where
the refrain belongs (see lines 7-8 and 16-17), but
Tennyson switches things up a bit here. Instead of
"Into the valley of Death," now the men are riding
"Into the mouth of hell."
The "mouth of hell" matches up nicely with the
"jaws" in the line before, and it's just one more
way of emphasizing how bad the valley is and how
brave these men are.
Changing the refrain also helps to keep us on our
toes a little, and keeps the poem from seeming
stale or repetitive.
THE LITERAL AND
FIGURATIVE MEANING
 PERSONA
Have you ever seen a big-budget Hollywood movie about World War II?
There's always a lot of fighting and action, and then, sometimes, at the
end, it cuts to an old veteran remembering the war and his lost buddies.
We imagine that guy narrating this poem.
To us, it seems like the PERSONA was there.
He remembers the charge, and he wants to pass on the story of the
heroes who charged and died on that day.
You can hear the power of his memories and his patriotism behind every
word. He sees the tragedy of war, but also the positive side, the things it
brings out in men.
He wants you to see this too. He wants to stir you up, to make sure you
don't forget.
Sometimes he might get a little carried away, maybe he's a little
sentimental sometimes, but it's impossible not to like him and respect
him.
 POINT OF VIEW

Third person omniscient (all-knowing) point of view

The poem is presented by a person who knows all
about the tragedy.
The person tells the thoughts and actions of the
characters.
THEMES
 THEMES
HONOUR AND RESPECT
Tennyson write "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
because he wants to accomplish something
specific.He wants the memory of the anonymous
men of the Light Brigade to live forever.
You know what? It worked.
We guarantee that you would never have heard
about the Light Brigade in the Crimean War if it
weren't for this poem, and now you're part of the
tradition of remembering these men.
 MORAL VALUES

WE MUST WE MUST SOMETIMES

HAVE INSTILL THE IT IS GOOD TO
LOYALTY AND SPIRIT OF ASK
COURAGE PATRIOTISM QUESTIONS
 MORAL VALUES

WHEN
WE MUST DISCUSSION
GIVEN A
STRUGGLE IS A GOOD WE MUST
DUTY, WE
FOR PEACE APPROACH BE BRAVE IN
TRY OUR
RATHER BEFORE WE THE FACE
BEST TO
THAN CARRY OUT OF DANGER
CARRY IT
WARFARE PROJECTS
OUT
Words Bank

Charge- attack
Brigade- an army or unit or division
League- a distance of roughly 5km
Valley- canyon, dale
Dismay- consternation, terror
Though- despite
Blunder- mistake, error
Cannon- a weapon that shoots large metallic balls
Volley- repeated firing
Storm- attack
Cavalry- horse soldiers, an army division of soldiers on horseback
 Exercise Practice 1
STANZA 1
What does the Light Brigade refer to?
____________________________________________________
Who said Forward, the Light Brigade!?
____________________________________________________
What was the order?
____________________________________________________
Into the valley of Death
What would happen to the men?
____________________________________________________
 Exercise Practice 1
STANZA 2
Based on this stanza, describe the personality of the soldiers.
(a) _____________________________________________
(b) _____________________________________________
(c) _____________________________________________

The word Theirs refers to

______________________________________________

What is the meaning of blundered?

________________________________________________
 Exercise Practice 1
STANZA 3
Describe the scene of the battlefield.
________________________________________________

What Volleyed and thundered?

________________________________________________

What do you think happened at the end of the poem?

________________________________________________
 Exercise Practice 2
In your own words, describe how the soldiers felt when they went into the battlefield.
________________________________________________________________[2 marks]

In your opinion, was it the right thing to do for the soldiers to follow the captains
command? Give a reason.
________________________________________________________________[2 marks]

What do you think of the captains command?

________________________________________________________________[2 marks]

Give two suggestions on how we should show our appreciations to those who defend
our country.
_________________________________________________________________[1 mark]

_________________________________________________________________[1 mark]
 Exercise Practice 3
No. Word Meaning No. Word Meaning

1 league 5 volleyed

2 valley 6 shell

3 dismayed 7 boldly

4 blundered 8 jaws