Analytical essay of “The Charge of the Light Brigade PDF

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Analytical essay of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson The poem begins by describing the story of a brigade comprising of 600 British soldiers, who rode on horsebacks for one and a half miles into the “Valley of death”. The soldiers followed orders from their commander to charge the enemy forces that had seized their weapons. None of the soldiers were discouraged or apprehensive by the commander commanding a charge until the soldiers realized that the commanding officer made an earnest mistake, but they still moved forward. The soldier’s role is not to disobey their commander; therefore, they cannot dispute their orders nor ask for the reason behind the order. Cannons were attacking the soldiers viciously from the front and from both of their sides, but they still rode bravely into an almost certain death. They fought with sabres and swung them on their enemies. When the soldiers rode back, they lost some men to the battle. The Light Brigade soldiers, dead or alive, had brought glory and admiration from the whole world.

The poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, written by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, were published in 1855. Tennyson wrote the poem in response to the battle during the Crimean War which took place from October 1853 to February 1856. The Crimean war was a conflict between the allied countries France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia on one side and the Russians on the other side. The poem portrays how the British army’s cavalry unit “the Light Brigade” misunderstood and charged 600 cavalrymen down to the valley were the Russian cannons were firing, and how the cavalrymen still won the battle. Another reason for Tennyson to write this poem is to leave an impact of the event in the period: The Victorian Age. The poet himself was born in 1802 and died in 1892. This makes him a Victorian poet - he is the quintessential Victorian poet, because he lived and died at almost the same time as the Victorian age.

The poem is a ballad since it tells the story of an historical war, that contains several refrains: “Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them” (st. 3, vs. 1-3) and “Rode the six hundred (st. 1, vs. 8). Tennyson uses these refrains, to help the readers to remember what the story is telling and, furthermore, not forget the important war. His use of a balled form, therefore, suggests an element of folklore to “The Charge of the Light Brigade”. The folklore is an inspiring act of bravery from the soldiers that the reader always should honor and be reminded of. However, it is evenly valid to say that Tennyson published the poem because he had a goal for the

public not only to never forget the brave soldiers, but also to never forget the stupidity of the aristocracy leadership, and the mistake that resulted in the whole thing to take place. Beyond that, the poem’s structure is very unusual, due to the fact, that it contains six stanzas with varying amount of verses. Poems usually have a pattern with a certain amount of verses and stanzas, but this particularly poem does not. For instance, the first stanza consists of eight verses and the following next two stanzas, consist of nine verses each. In the fourth stanza the tension of the story increases which can be seen in the following quote: “Flashed all their sabres bare, flashed as they turned in air” (st. 4, vs. 1-2). This shows that the story has reached its climax through the fourth and fifth stanza, and therefore it catches the reader’s attention. However, each of the six stanzas can symbolize a memorial stone to one hundred of the six hundred cavalrymen.

Tennyson wrote the poems opening with some rhythm verses: “Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward” (st. 1, vs. 1-2). In this quote and additionally, through the whole poem he uses anaphors, where he repeats the same phrases and words: “Rode the six hundred. (st. 1, vs. 8). In this case, the anaphoras creates rhythm in the poem and makes the reader remember the poem. He makes use of the same phrases in the end of each stanzas except for the last three stanzas: “Not the six hundred. Left of six hundred. Noble six Hundred (st. 4,5,6. vs. 12, 11, 6). When he changes the phrase, he creates focus for the reader, and this results in them notifying it. Meanwhile, he also replaces the repetition “rode” to “not”, “left” and “noble”, this changes the mood of the story. Specifically, it gets more violent and not all noble six hundred soldiers were left from the war. Tennyson also deliberately makes use of metaphors to create an imagination of the battle for the readers: “Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell” (st. 3, vs. 7-8). The soldiers are not horsebacking into the jaws of death nor the mouth of hell. This metaphor creates an image in the reader’s head, that the men are condemned to death.

The poem is a patriotic poem that wants to celebrate “The Light Brigade” and their soldiers. The poems story is based on real events that took place on the 16 October 1854. During the era where France and The British Empire went against Russia. As an Empire, the country has to maintain their reputation as a fearless and unbeatable country. The poem’s theme is expressed and identified throughout the language, style and structure of the poem. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” message is that “The British Empire hasn’t fallen” and the theme is “National Pride”. Due to the loss of the battle Tennyson wrote this poem as propaganda to build up a public support for the war.

Tennyson wanted to pursue the fact that the country’s cost of the war would still reveal a British greatness. Britain did not lose the battle because of their brave and heroic soldiers: “When can their glory fade? (st. 6, vs. 1). Tennyson uses the rhetorical question in his final stanza to conclude that the glory should not fade away. The British Empires sacrifice is a symbol to all of the British soldiers, who sacrificed their lives for the country....