UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

Stanza 1 The leader of the platoon encouraged and drove them towards the enemies' guns in an effort
to break up the gunners. Six hundred British soldiers rode towards certain death.

Stanza 2 The poet wonders if the soldiers were worried. Did they know their leader had made a mistake?
In incredible commitment to their orders, the soldiers simply obeyed without question, without
fear.

Stanza 3 The soldier were surrounded by artillery fire on three sides. Although they were attacked on all
sides, they bravely rode towards death. The battle was like hell.
UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

Stanza 4 The soldiers used their sabres to kill the gunners. How could swords come up against guns? They
killed Cossacks and Russians. It did not seem possible! It is a scene of chaos and carnage with
cannons thundering and artillery and mortal shells falling. Some men had survived at this point,
but far less than 600 men.

Stanza 5 Both horses and riders were gunned down and died. The majority of their brigade died. Only a
remnant of men returned – those who had fought well.

Stanza 6 The whole world marvelled at them and honoured the ‘noble six hundred’ of the Light Brigade
for their courage and magnificence. The poet praises them for their bravery.
SYPNOPSIS
The poem is about the valour of the cavalry in bravely carrying out their
orders, regardless of the obvious outcome. Due to some miscommunication in the
chain of command, it was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different
artillery battery that was well-prepared with excellent defensive fire. Although
the Light Brigade reached the battery under crushing direct fire and scattered
some of the gunners, the badly mauled brigade was forced to retreat
immediately with very high casualties.

The battle scene was filled with chaos and carnage as cannons thundered and
shells fell. But the men were stoic and unquestioning, following their orders
without offering critique or refusal. Brandishing swords, 600 cavalrymen on
horses bravely rode into valley flanked on three sides with Russian artillery, it
was a slaughter and their burial ground.
THEMES
Courage
- The soldiers display great courage, especially under duress. Courage is a
universally admired virtue, but during the Victorian age and for the British
in particular, it was extremely important. The six hundred soldiers rush into
a battle even though they know they will probably perish; their courage
and willingness to follow orders are exemplary.

Death
- Death is terrifying. The poet paints a harsh picture, likening it to ‘the
valley of Death’. He does not offer the abstract tranquillity of death but is
instead predatory and menacing as seen in ‘Into the jaws of Death’ and
‘Into the mouth of Hell’, show that these faced a fierce and merciless
death.
Respect for Duty
- The soldier display an immense compliance towards duty and orders, not once
questioning their leader, despite knowing that they were no match for guns
and were entering ‘the jaws of Death’ and ‘the mouth of Hell’.

Nobility vs Brutally
- The poet’s subject is the nobleness of supporting one’s country, but he pulls
no punches about the horror of war, reflecting the predatory and menacing
face of death. Despite the nobility of fighting for their country, death here is
final and brutal.
PERSONA
The persona is the poet himself, though THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE was
originally captured in an eyewitness account by a journalist, who was covering
the Crimean War for his audiences back in London.

SETTING
The setting was that of the Crimean War, when a British light cavalry was led by
Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October
1854. It was a battle scene of chaos and carnage with cannons thundering and
shells falling all around the cavalry.
TONE AND MOOD
The tone and hoofbeat cadences are rousing, but the horror of war is present.
The poet highlights the predatory and menacing nature of Death in the tone and
mood he uses, capturing the frustration of the blunder and the needless loss of
life.

POINT OF VIEW
The poem is written in the third person. The persona is an observer. He relates
what happens in war, especially when a blunder is made and lives are lost
needlessly.
STRUCTURE
The poem has a strong rhythm, echoing the march and the futile fight. There are
six numbered stanza, as if each stanza s a memorial stone to 100 of the 600
cavalrymen. The length of the stanzas reflects the structure of the story.

The first three stanzas

- Whenthe Light Brigade is approaching the guns, the structure is strong
formation in which the cavalry charge. Three lines (of three six-to-seven
syllables) are followed by a shorter lines (five syallables).

Stanza two
- The Light Brigade has engaged the enemy so the longer stanzas describe the
struggle. The structure starts to break down into shorter lines, showing the
desperate attempt to retreat.
LANGUAGE
The language of the poem is military: guns, soldier, cannon, shot and shell set
the scene.

POETIC DEVICES
- The power of the poem comes from the careful use of imagery, sound effects
and others.
- IMAGERY – The strong central image of the ‘valley of Death’ refers to well-
known poem in the Bible – Psalm 23 – about the ‘valley of the shadow of
death’, where the speaker does not fear evil because of trust in God’s leading
hand. By using this Biblical allusion, the poet shows how important the event
is. But, unlike the Psalm, it is not a wise God but a blundering order that has
led the men into their predicament.
PERSONIFICATION
- The personification of the valley and the ‘mouth of Hell’, creates a
terrifying scene; the six hundred men are truly remarkable for throwing
themselves into monstrous situation under orders.

SOUND
- The poet uses a wide variety of highly affective sound effects. He uses
alliteration to express the sounds of battle, as in the sound of bullets in
‘shot and shell’ which echoes the whistling of ball as the cavalry charge
through it.
 RHYME SCHEME
- The rhyme scheme is irregular. Anaphora is also used (repetition of the
same word at the beginning of multiple lines), creating a sense of the
barrage the soldiers were facing, and intensifying the emotion of the
scene. The rhymes also suggest the inevitability of the situation.

MORAL VALUES
- Be courageous and fearless even under duress.
- Be loyal to the country and dutiful when discharging orders.
- Bravery deserves credit.
- There is no glamour in war, only horror and death.
- We should respect and appreciate the rave soldiers who have died for the
country.
The Charge of The Light Brigade
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”

Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
* The above stanzas are extracts from the original poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’.
• The following stanzas are not listed in the poetry collection ‘A Poison Tree’. They are provided for your further reading.

Flashed all their sabresⁱ bare,

Flashed as they turned in air, VOCABULARY BOOSTER
Sabring₂ the gunners there,
1. Heavy swords
Charging an army, while 2. Killing
3. Involved heavily
All the world wondered: 4. Felt very upset and shocked
5. Attacked violently
Plunged in₃ the battery-smoke
6. Crushed and broken up completely
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled⁴ from the sabre stroke⁵
Shattered and sundered⁶.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
VOCABULARY BOOSTER
While horse and hero fell⁷,
They that had fought so well 7. collapsed, gunned down
8. Magnificence
Came through the jaws of Death,
9. Slowly disappear, lose its importance
Back from the mouth of Hell, 10. Pay tribute to
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory⁸ fade⁹?

O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honourⁱ⁰ the charge they made,
Honour the Light Bridgade,
Noble six hundred.