Analysis of The Charge of the Light Brigade
This particular poem deals with the unfortunate mistake of Battle of
Balaclava in 1854. In an attempt to retrieve their stolen firearms,
the British, lead by Lord Raglen, took their light cavalry to the
innocent Turkish territory, rather than the guilty Russians. In
self-defence Turkey protect themselves by attacking the British troops
causing hundreds of deaths but "not, not the six hundred".
Tennyson uses various techniques to involve the reader more
personally. He uses this to emphasise the pain and suffering felt by
the soldiers so the reader can really appreciate the physical defeat
but the emotional victory from the "noble six hundred". The use of
onomatopoeia in poems is generally used to make the situation more
realistic. Although the same applies in this instance, Tennyson adds
aural imagery to seem as if the reader is actually at the battle
listening to everything being "shatter'd" and "thunder'd". Also, the
words used for onomatopoetic effect are all descriptions of adversity
and hardship. Words such as "shot" and "storm'd" conjure up images of
the death in the mind of the reader.
The stanza layout is specifically used to reflect the journey of the
cavalry. In stanza one, they are striding towards the battlefield,
moving "half a league onward". In the second canto, they are still
travelling to the valley, and tension is mounting, even though their
leader "had blunder'd". Although in modern times this would be very
questionable when a leader makes a mistake when going into a
potentially damaging battle. However, they did not argue or "reason
why". In the third verse, the struggle commences as they are fired at
from all angles. They bravely push o...
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...t of Lancelot in "The Lady of Shalott". Although
one is myth and the other is real the definition of "bravery" is
universal.
The length of each stanza varies form six to twelve lines. The six
stanzas and six lines reflect the "six hundred" soldiers. The altering
stanza length echoes the varying number of soldiers left. The first
three stanzas have nine lines and their last line is "Rode the six
hundred" whereas the last three stanzas are all different with
different endings.
Throughout the poem we notice Tennyson's distaste for war. However he
has made the battle itself rather exaggerated to show that war is not
all about victory, bravery or patriotism, but death, blood and loss.
He does, nevertheless, respect the soldiers involved and tries to make
the reader appreciate the huge level of loss made by the mistake by
one, somewhat more powerful man.
The first poem we are going to look at is ‘The Charge of the Light
He was encouraged to write this poem when reading a newspaper called "The Times" His approach to the deaths in Turkey wasn't exactly sympathetic but more "well done". Having this approach to the deaths in the war was kind of ignoring the fact that these soldiers had died. The Poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson was given the name "Poet Laureate" which means to be appointed, either by the King or Queen to write something on their behalf and which is in
When thinking about World War I, most do not think about the Ottoman Empire. However, many important actions and decisions occurred in this region. A man named T. E. Lawrence was a huge liability toward the Ottoman Empire from 1916 until the end of World War I. Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on August 16, 1888. He was the son of Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner. The couple never married, but instead they took the name of Lawrence. The family decided to settle in Oxford. This is where Thomas Edward grew up, went to school, and eventually attended university. At Oxford, Lawrence decided to study history, and he also wanted to do his undergraduate thesis on medieval castles in the Turkish- held area of Syria and Palestine.
“The Battle of the Bulge, fought over the winter months of 1944 – 1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War Two. The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies in two in their drive towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves” (Trueman).
This quote suggests that Tennyson’s poem glorifies the war, celebrating the sacrifice they had made for their country. By glorifying the Brigade, Tennyson has ignored the obscurity and massacre of the war; this is shown by the loyalty that the soldiers have for their country. The commitment of war in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is only shown because Tennyson's looking at war from afar .We can see this because in the poem he has not used descriptive language to describe what war was like, and has not shown the real outcome of war.
"The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams is a window into one doctor's guilt over the negligent loss of a child patient. This story focuses on the disillusionment caused by his self-pity and guilt. The doctor's guilt triggers a fanciful illusion of "The Use of Force" that gives him giddy delight in his envisioned torture of the young, beautiful girl. His disgust for her uneducated, immigrant parents and their poor, humble surroundings only heighten this image. But his justification of these imagined actions empowers him all the more. He perceives himself above these less than human creatures, as a master lords over his good for nothing dog. In his self-empowered greatness he comes face to face with the greatest flaw any doctor can have, lack of humanity and compassion for those lesser then himself.
Benito Mussolini, was the Head of Government of Italy and Duce of Fascism also he was the prime minister of Italy; he said “Blood alone moves the wheels of history.” (World War II Tributes) Mussolini was saying that blood has many affects on American History because there were too many battles going on in the past and for those more to go. The battle of the Bulge started off with Hitler’s men who attacked the American positions on Elsensborn Ridge and Losheim Gap attempting to break through to Liège. Americans said that this battle was probably the bloodiest battle in America. The battle of the Bulge began on December 16th 1944; Hitler thought that he could take over the alliance from Britain, France, and America so he decided launching a massive attack on American forces. Many risked their lives and this was also a very bloody battle. In many cases there were a lot of people that did not know that the battle was a very bloody. The conflict of the Battle of the Bulge was very sentimental also at the same time it was very aggressive, many people lost their lives fighting over a mistake one man caused. If Hitler wouldn’t have came up with the idea of trying to take control of many countries then there wouldn’t have been men dying in this battle.
He writes, “And bugles calling for them from sad shires” (Line 8). A bugle is a small simple brass instrument without valves, similar to a trumpet. Bugles are used for three main purposes: at a funeral, to mark time, and to call a retreat. The “sad shires” are the towns from which the men come. They are “sad” because many of the men are away, most of them dead. We could interpret this line in three ways. First, the sound represents the mourning of the soldiers in the home towns. Since the sound is rather frequent, it shows the massive amount of death and the herd-like killing of the soldiers as referenced in Line 1. Second, the sound could mark the time of the day, reminding the aimless and purposeless soldiers of how slowly time is moving. This slowing of time contrasts with the fast-paced life of the soldiers before the war and shows how war ages men. Third, the sound from the shires could be a calling of retreat, asking the men to return home. This sense of hope appears only here in the poem – the remaining lines all have a sombre mood emphasizing on death. However, this could also be interpreted as the notification of death at home. This imagery of the bugle varies greatly from its value in previous wars. Before World War I, trumpets were played before battle to generate patriotism and to remind the soldiers to fight for glory. Now, in World War I, it only represents the slowing of time, a retreat, or
Cavalry has been used for many years, including throughout the Civil War and World War 1. Through looking at the types of cavalry, the breeds of horses they used, and the success they had, one can see how important cavalry truly was to the Civil War. In addition, through exploring the uses of cavalry, the breeds of horses used, and the struggles that were faced, one can also learn of the difficulties cavalry experienced in World War 1.
World War 2 was a large scale war around the war that lasted 6 years. The war was devastating on all the countries involved on both sides. There was a considerable amount of death in WW2 estimated at 15,000,000 battle related deaths. There were many different battles in WW2 but today I will be report on one of the greater battles close to the end of the war. This battle is known as the Battle of the Bulge.The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16th, 1944. It started with Hitler ordering a large surprise attack on the Western Allies using his 3 armies. The Germans came out of the dense woods of the Ardennes forest in Belgium. Towards the beginning of the battle the Germans were winning due to the nature of the surprise attack and their experience level. The damage they caused was so great they created a “bulge” of sorts in the Allied front, hence the name of the battle. But we later will see the Germans progress in the beginning of the battle will be short lived.
The purpose of this paper is to analysis the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon's defeat and describe how an alternate outcome for Napoleon could have brought him victory.
Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument. The poem's use of excellent diction helps to more clearly define what the author is saying. Words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" not only show how the man is suffering, but that he is in terrible pain that no human being should endure. Other words like writhing and froth-corrupted say precisely how the man is being tormented. Moreover, the phrase "blood shod" shows how the troops have been on their feet for days, never resting. Also, the fact that the gassed man was "flung" into the wagon reveals the urgency and occupation with fighting. The only thing they ca...
It is not only the language of Tennyson’s poem that reveals how these portrayals of both feminine and masculine bring meaning to the poem’s characters, but prominent symbols of the poem such as the mirror, the river and the Lady’s death which emphasise the nature of these binaries being conveyed. Let us first draw our attention to the mirror which from the Lady’s introduction in Part II, seems to be her connection to the outside world. The mirror is where “Shadows of the world appear” (48) and is how the Lady looks upon “Camelot” (50) from her isolated tower. Loneliness and isolation is thought to be a prominent theme of Tennyson’s poem, and how the concept of the Lady being “nameless” (Colley 370) is what leads her to a “shadow-less realm”
With this being said Heaney uses similes and denotations throughout his poem to put in a sense of tone in the poem to help the readers get a better understanding of what the people were going through when they would see soldiers walking about. According to Dictionary.com (“Simile”, 2016). “A simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared.” This is being used in line 18 where it says “standing there like youngsters” (Heaney, n.d.). This interprets how men working would pause and observe what was going on and the soldiers marching by just like kids would do when they see something remarkable. Heaney also uses Denotation. Which according to Dictionary.com, “Denotation is the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it.” This is being showed in the poem throughout various lines. It’s being showed when he writes, “They would have heard the screaming, / Then heard it stop and had a view of us / In our gloves and aprons / coming down the hill” (lines 6-9), this evokes an image showing that what is being told and said is what is truly happening. That the soldiers were so close to them that they could hear the slightest scream of a pig being
As evident in these three poems, “Tithonus,” “Lady of Shallot” and “Mariana in the Moated Grange,” Tennyson often portrays the world as a sad place. Many times, like in “Tithonus” and “Lady of Shallot,” there is a conflict between wishes and desires. Also, Tennyson often uses the outer environment to heighten the emotions experienced by the characters. In short, Tennyson is able to convey his themes of half-life and death-in-life through the use of imagery, symbolism and figures of speech.