Repetition in the Poem
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both.
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.
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.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Note: There are repetitions in every
Shattered and sundered.
stanza
Then they rode back, but not
Not 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 behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Note: The battle stanza, S4, contains
the least repetitions.
& the change at the end of S4-6.
Repetition in the Poem – Stanza 1 & 2
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both
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.
The repetition of ‘Half a league’ is
meant to echo the sound of horse
hooves beating on the ground as the
men charge forward. It also
emphasises the distance they had to
travel, most of it under fire from
enemy guns. A league is the distance
a man could walk in an hour, about
three miles or five and a half
kilometres.
‘Theirs not’ emphasises the way
these soldiers did their duty without
question, even though they knew
that doing their duty and following
such orders may well cost them thjeir
lives.
Repetition in the Poem – Stanza 1 & 2
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both.
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.
The repetition of ‘valley of death emphasises how dangerous the
place they are going is and warns us that the story of the poem is
not going to have a good outcome for many of the soldiers.
The repetition of ‘six hundred’ emphasises the number of soldiers
involved in the charges and draws our attention to the change in
this line in the final three stanzas of the poem where they are ‘Not’
six hundred any more.
The repetition of ‘Forward, the Light Brigade’ emphasises that it the
Light Brigade who are engaged in this action as opposed to the
Heavy Brigade who were the troops who should have mounted a
frontal attack like this....and ‘Forward’ creates a sense of the order
to attack being given...and not questioned.
Repetition in the Poem – Stanza 3 & 5
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
The repetition of ‘Cannon’ emphasises the danger the soldiers
faced as they were surrounded by enemy gunfire on three
sides as they attacked the guns....and then had to face the
same assault as they retreated back down the valley to the
safety of their own lines. There is also a rhythm established
with the repetition of these lines, similar in form to the
repetition of ‘Half a league’ at the start of the poem.
‘Volleyed and thundered....stormed at with shot and shell’
emphasises the violent nature of the cannonading the soldiers
faced. Shot were solid cannon balls that caused injury as they
tore through tissue. Shell were fused, hollow rounds filled with
gunpowder that would explode near the enemy killing or
injuring by shards of hot metal tearing through tissue. Capt.
Nolan was killed by such a shell burst at the start of the charge.
Repetition in the Poem – Stanza 3 & 5 : 2
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both.
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
The repetition of ‘Jaws of Death...mouth of Hell’ emphasises
the deadly danger of the target they were attacking. Those
who enter the Jaws of Death and the mouth of Hell tend not
to return alive!
You also have here the change form ‘Rode the six hundred to
the focus on the fact that so few were ‘left’ to return to the
safety of their own lines.
Repetition in the Poem – Stanza 4
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both.
This stanza, the battle stanza, has the least amount of
repetition and what there is focuses on the principal
weapon the soldiers had to use, their sabre. The Heavy
Brigade would have had heavy cavalry sabres and rifles
to use, but the Light Brigade only had these much
lighter weapons. Yet even though the soldiers were so
lightly armed the Russians ‘reeled’ from their attack.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Repetition in the Poem – Stanza 1 & 2
Remember – Repetition is used for rhythm, emphasis or both.
The emphasis in the repetition of the last three lines is on
honouring the sacrifice that these soldiers made. They did
their duty, obeyed their orders and paid with their lives. The
change in the repetition in the last line asks us to focus on the
nobility of their action. What they did may seem stupid, but
that stupidity lies with the officers who issued the orders, the
soldiers were being noble in their effort to do what they had
been ordered to do, without moaning and without question:
Theirs not to make reply, (question their orders)
Theirs not to reason why, (ask reason why such orders)
Theirs but to do and die: (do what they are told even if it
means their death.)
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!