Charge of the Light Brigade
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 dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make
reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & 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
Volley'd &
thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world
wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack & Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke,
Shatter'd &
sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind
them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While
horse & hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' 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 wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
By analyzing this poem, tone shows us the poets attitude toward the "charge of the lightbrigade". The poet repeats the term valley of death reffering to the battle into which the brigade was riding. The term gives the connotation of a suicide mission, which makes the reader wonder why the brigade would rush into a suicide mission. The poet illuminates this concept with the
ReplyDelete"Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
The soldiers here are portrayed as innocents set up for the slaughter caused by the mistakes of another, possibly a senior officer. Though their fates were unfair, the soldiers fought to the death on faulty orders. Thus, thought the tone of the poem seems to be one of failure, the poet is in fact exonerating the honroable deaths of the 6 hundred.
I agree with this analysis, Anthony. The speaker is releasing these soldiers of responsibility, providing them a sense of honor despite what anyone else could believe from observation. It is a soldier's code of honor in many ways - follow the order without fail. In exonerating these soldiers though, he does seem to be accusing someone: "some one had blunder'd". The speaker wants it to be known that someone is at fault for the death of these fine men. It is definitely not the primary focus, but I do think it to be an interesting tone choice.
ReplyDeleteIn the first stanza line 5-8 read
ReplyDelete'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
The "he" referred to may be a commanding officer. This person is most likely the person to be blamed since it seems he is giving out the orders. I think this is especially true due to the poet's elaboration of the command, "Into the valley of Death",which gives off the impression the officer was sending the soldiers to their deaths.
a part of this poem id like to comment on is definitely the meter of the poem. When i read the poem the meter is very direct and stays quite constant and this mentally makes me think of a group marching with cadence. With this cadence, the constant repetition throughout the poem, and also the general lack of emotion it is told with (until the last stanza) I feel this poem also compares soldiers to machinery. Like what Anthony said prior, it wasnt the soldiers place to question, they did as they were told, just like machinery does not argue with its operator and does as it is told. This is quite depressing however because in this case doing as they're told means their own death.
ReplyDelete-Chris Watson
I agree with your idea about the cadence - I too was reminded of a march. However, I disagree with the last sentence of your analysis. I took the last stanza as a direct message about how their deaths were actually noble, not depressing.
ReplyDeleteWhen can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
The word choices the narrator used, specifically "glory" "honour" and "noble" in reference to the charge (and deaths) of the six hundred actually gave me the impression that the speaker's attitude toward death was that of awe. In fact, the speaker seemed to be saying that despite dying, people can live on if their survivors honor or remember them.
I thought that this poem was quite interesting. In the second stanza the speaker asks "was there a man dismayed?", whichis a rhetorical question, and the answer was "not tho' the soldier knew someone had blundered". I think that this answer suggests that the soldiers took no note of anything going on. Following this, Tennyson uses parallel structure in saying "Theirs not to" to emphsize that the soldiers had no say in what they did. This builds off the idea of the soldiers focusing only on their work and creates the image of them having no freedom, since they could not argue with orders. The parallel structure is then broken with the line "Theirs but to do and die". In doing this, Tennyson brings attention to this line. The words "do" and "die" suggest that the soldiers have a function and could be characterizing them(as Chris said) like machines. But, more accurately, it appears that the speaker is characterizing them as dutiful.
ReplyDeleteAside from this, in stanza four Tennyson describes the enemy as having been "reel'd," and "shatter'd and sunder'd", which connote destruction and imply that the soldiers were fierce. This tone of ferocity is actually present throughout this stanza, as seen by the soldiers who "flashed" their "sabres" and who "plunged" into "battery-smoke". By repeatedly depicting the soldiers as diving through dark imagery, a tone of ferocity, or moreso courage, is built. Thus, at the end of the poem, whe Tennyson repeadedly uses the word "honor", he suggests that the speaker admires the light brigade, and doesn't criticize them, but he repects their commitment in carrying out their job.
-Jessica K.
Also, the repeated phrase "into the Valley of Death" may be alluding to the "Valley of the Shadow of Death" in Psalm 23. But I'm not really sure what this could mean... maybe it's there to emphasize that the soldiers were immensely courageous?
Delete-Jessica K.