‘The Charge of the

Light Brigade’
Alfred Tennyson
What is the poem about?

The poem was written in

1854.

It tells the story of a brave,

but suicidal British cavalry
charge during the Crimean
War.

Lord Cardigan attacked a

valley with 673 cavalrymen.

The British were surrounded

by cannons and, in minutes,
half were dead.
What happens in the poem?

The Light Brigade move into

position.

The order comes to ‘Charge for

the guns’ and the men charge –
they do not ‘reason why’.

Surrounded by ‘cannon’ on all

sides they continue to ride ‘boldly’

They disappear into the ‘smoke’ –

the enemy lines are ‘shatter’d’ but
the Brigade’s losses have been The last stanza asks readers to
terrible. ‘Honour the Light Brigade’.
What does the poem
mean?
The poem suggests that:

The experience of Battle can be

both thrilling and terrifying at the
same time.

That the sacrifice and bravery of

British soldiers should be
celebrated.

Some readers think that the poem

is too patriotic and glorifies war.
The ‘wild charge’ is called ‘Noble’.
On the other hand …
Tennyson may use the poem
to criticise British generals
who ‘blundered’
 ‘Belfast
Confetti’
Ciaran Carson
 How could we
describe the voice?

-Patriotic
‘Honour the charge they
made’

-Breathless and excited

‘O the wild charge they
made’

The speaker could be:

-an excited observer

-a proud British patriot
-critical of the generals

Why are they writing the poem?

 Tennyson’s use of repetition is
signficant.
A good example of this is the
anaphora in every stanza of
the poem.
‘Half a league, half a league, Half a
league onward’ …

‘Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon behind them’

Can you find the other repetitions in the The first quotation conveys a
poem?
sense of unstoppable
How do they help to tell the story? movement. The second
reinforces that the men are
The anaphora has a slightly different trapped.
effect in each stanza.
 ‘Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die’

Tennyson structures his

poem using an unstoppable
rhythm and regular rhyme.

The rhythm gives the poem its energy,

recreating the surge of the cavalry charge – you
can almost hear the hooves in the rhythm. The
rhyme helps to keep up this forward
momentum, as if the reader (like the horses)
cannot turn back.

Can we also feel a reckless madness in the

pounding rhythm?
Celebrating the The ‘Cossack and Who’s to blame?
heroism of the Brigade Russian’
‘Some one had
‘glory’, ‘honour,’noble’ The Light Brigade lost this blunder’d’
battle – do you this sense
Trnnyson celebrates the get from the poem. Is it
What does this line
heroism of the Brigade. propoganda?
suggest about the
Not the personal terror
of the individual men.
role of soldiers and
How does the ‘enemy’
appear in stanza four? generals in a battle?