"The Charge of the Light Brigade" Alfred Lord Tennyson
Poetry can be expressive and impactful. Some poems are romantic like poems about nature. Some poems are sonnets like words of love compressed into fourteen lines with a rhymed couplet at the close. Some poems mean different things to different people. Some are feelings pinned down on paper. Some are history.
At the Battle of Balaclava on the 25th of October in the year 1854 six hundred British soldiers were sent to die. Since television and helicopters were not yet invented people had to wait for reports on what was happening. Alfred Lord Tennyson was one of the people listening intently to the story. That is when he wrote this poem. This poem is the epic tale of these brave men who fought that day.
1.
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.
The first stanza is the order for the six hundred men to march half a league into the valley.
2.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
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 second stanza is directly after receiving the order to charge. The soldiers knew the order was a mistake, but this stanza is the core of Alfred Lord Tennyson's point. Even though the soldiers knew of the mistake and that they were likely to die they rode into the valley anyway. They did this not out of bravado or stupidity. They rode ahead because it was their duty to their country. Their job isn't to talk back. Their responsibility isn't to wonder why the mistake was made. Their duty is to charge and do their job.
3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and 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.
The had no chance. Completely surrounded by cannons they were fired upon, but they kept going.
4.
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 and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
All the world was watching this battle, not with television, but with the reports coming from the battle field. The men knew they could not win, but they attacked and did as much as they could. Their enemies, the Cossacks and Russians, were alarmed by their fierce opposition, but they were still at an advantage. The six hundred had to retreat, but barrel half of them could make it out alive.
5.
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 and 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.
In the fifth stanza the survivors are retreating. Over three hundred men died that day.
6.
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!
Their lesson will be remembered because even though the soldiers knew it was a lost cause they did their duty, and while the Battle of Balaclava wasn't important in the Crimean War the six hundred's noble bravery will stay with us forever.
