The Charge of the
Light Brigade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
OzpW3u8XR6s
What can we see in this picture?
Context
The Crimean War 1854-1856
• Britain and France against
Russia
• Began after the Turkish Empire
collapsed and Russia wanted to
extend power south. Allies
landed in Crimea and took
control of Sebastopol.
• War in Crimea, southern
Russia.
• British cavalry (men on
horseback) called the Light
Brigade
Heroic and Stupid
Charge of the Light Brigade
The British cavalry commander mistook his orders to retake some guns
held by the Russians. Instead he told his men to charge the main
Russian position, which was at the head of a valley bristling with
artillery. The 600 horsemen obeyed but two thirds were killed or
wounded. The Charge is the best known example of heroism and
stupidity of war.
Poem based on newspaper report
Journalist W.H.Russell reported on the
Charge in The Times:
At the minutes past eleven our Light Cavalry Brigade advanced…They swept
proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of
war…At the distance of 1200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth,
from thirty iron mouths, a flood of smoke and flame. The flight was marked by
instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horse, by steeds flying and wounded
or rider less across the plain…They flew into the smoke of the batteries; but
before they were lost from view the plain was strewn with their bodies. Through
the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as they rode between the
guns, cutting down the gunners as they stood… The flank fire of the batteries on
the hill swept them down…at thirty five minutes past eleven not a British soldier,
except the dead and the dying, was left in front of the Russian guns.
Rhythm
There is a regular fast-paced
rhythm to the poem created
by:
• Regular number of
syllables in the lines (5-7);
• End rhymes
• Repetition of line structures
and words
• Repetition of variation of
last line.
What is the
rhythm of the
poem
imitating and
what is the
effect of
this?
Order and Obey
‘Forward the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man
dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
The commander
had made a
disastrous
mistake. Why
didn’t the men
question the
order to charge at
the Russian
guns?
Sounds of war
Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the 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 the 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.
The repetition of the word
‘cannon’ with its short
syllable sounds explosive
The monosyllabic words after ‘cannon’
sound like a fast-paced, relentless
bombardment of shells
Sounds of war
drawn
out vowel
sabres
bare,
Cannon to the right of them, Flashed all their The
sound of the
The repetition of the onomatopoeic
Flashed
as
they
turned
in air
Cannon to the left of them,
onomatopoeic word
word ‘flashed’ with its quick
Sabring the gunners
there,
‘plunged’
help us to
Cannon
front
of them
soundinginvowel
sound
gives us a
Charging the army,
while
imagine
the utter despair
sense
of
the
speed
of
the
attack
Volleyed and thundered;
of the men as if consumed
All the world wondered:
and of death
by smoke
Stormed at with shot and
Plunged in the battery-smoke
shell,
Right through the line they broke;
Throughout these stanzas there is assonance of the harsh
Cossack
and
Boldly they rode and
shortwell,
vowel sounds,
‘o’,’u’ and
‘a’ Russian
(as in ‘plunged’ and
‘wondered’, ‘Cossack’
and ‘volleyed’
‘cannon’ and
Reeled
from the and
sabre-stroke
Into the jaws of Death,
‘flashed’). The harshShattered
landscape and
of war
is evoked by these
sundered.
aggressive sounds.
Into the mouth of Hell
Then they rode back, but not
The onomatopoeic words ‘volleyed’,
Rode
the and
six ‘stormed’
hundred.
Not the six hundred.
‘thundered’
all have
high energy and evoke the sounds
of anger, of aggression, of war
The onomatopoeic word ‘shattered’
helps us to imagine the men and valley
as broken
Imagery
‘Into the valley of Death
rode the six hundred.’
‘Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.’
How does
Tennyson use
metaphor and
personification
to capture the
horror of the
Charge?
Tennyson metaphorically describes the
place of battle as the ‘valley of Death.’
This is a powerful image as it suggests
that death is all around the men and
that they cannot escape it. The
Russian gunmen were at the head of
the valley looking down from a strong
vantage point at the cavalry; the British
had little hope of victory. The valley is
defined forever by the fallen men; it
now belongs to Death.
Imagery
‘Into the valley of Death
rode the six hundred.’
How does
Tennyson use
metaphor and
‘Into the jaws of Death,
personification
Into the mouth of Hell
to capture the
Tennyson personifies Death and Hell. The ‘jaws of Death’ evokes
Rode athe
six image
hundred.’
horror
ofgripped
the
powerful
of inescapability – the men
have been
by something savage and Death will not release its hold over the
Charge?
men. The ‘mouth of Hell’ also conjures an image of sheer horror.
It is as if the earth has opened up to consume the men – they will
die terribly. The men’s lives have been snatched from them
suddenly and violently.
Pride, splendour, glamour
W.H. Russell
They swept proudly past,
glittering in the morning
sun in all the pride and
splendour of war…with a
halo of steel above their
heads, and with a cheer
which was many a noble
fellow’s death cry, they
flew into the smoke of the
batteries…breaking
through a column of
Russians and scattering
them like chaff
Tennyson
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.
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 the six hundred.
Tennyson’s voice – stanza six
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!
What does
Tennyson
think of the
soldiers?
What do you
think that he
felt about the
Charge?