Comparing The Charge of The Light Brigade, War and A Wife in London.

Comparing The Charge of The Light Brigade, War and A Wife in London.

Select three poems from the selection, which are concerned with

different aspects of war. Write about and compare the poems in respect

of the following:

¨ The views of war that the poets are expressing

¨ The tones and atmospheres of the poems

¨ The ways in which language and rhythm are used to reinforce the

poets’ themes and viewpoints

¨ Any other factors considered important.

The three poems that I have chosen are: “The Charge of The Light

Brigade”, “War” and “A Wife in London”. I chose each of them for

different reasons, but mainly because they each look at very different

aspects of the war and the poets all have completely different

attitudes to war.

“The Charge of The Light Brigade” is an exultant poem, concerned with

the glorified aspect of war, that all men are heroes, brave and

courageous for fighting for their country. It is about a suicidal,

yet heroic battle fought by the British Cavalry in 1854. A mistaken

command received by a superior sent, unquestioning, 600 horsemen

charging into the head of a valley bristling with artillery and nearly

all of them ‘fell’.

“War” is set ‘behind the scene’ and concerns itself with the people

who dealt with the consequences of war - the doctors and orderlies. It

is a moving poem and shows the reader how bad conditions were in South

Africa. It is about the dedication of people to try and save the

“Case” (patients) and prevent them from turning into another “It” –

yet another dead body. The poet, Edgar Wallace was a medical orderly

himself, so he would have had first hand knowledge of how bad

conditions and casualties could get.

“A Wife in London” deals with the suffering...

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the tent and during the “War!” – “the part that is not for show”, “a

very unhealthy trade” and “Orderly, clean this knife!”. These each

have a way of opening a window into this little part of the war and

gives us an understanding of how horrible it is, with the never-ending

stream of casualties and reports back home in newspapers that are not

allowed to show anything against war (“the part that is not for

show”).

Each of the three poems, haunts the reader after a reading or two,

whether for good or for bad. They have made sure that I, as a reader,

am totally against war, no matter how good the reasons are or how much

glory it is given as in “The Charge of The Light Brigade”. I am

against the waiting and mourning for those left behind as in “A Wife

in London”. Moreover, I am most definitely against the loss of

fathers, sons, brothers and husbands.