Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote “The Charge of the Light Brigade” upon receiving news that nearly almost all of a party of 600 men had died in a futile charge during the Crimean war. Tennyson was inspired by the courage of the men that had died, and consequently wrote the poem. He really focuses on the fact that these men did their duty despite how obvious it was that they were going to die, and tries to convince the reader of one of his themes for the poem: that duty despite better judgement is extremely admirable. He also orders his readers to remember the Light Brigade for their courage, bringing to light a second theme: heroes of war must be remembered for their bravery. Tennyson makes use of a third person narrator for most of the poem, punctuated by short exclamations from officers. The poem has a very cinematic feel, as though a camera is panning around the battlefield, following the soldiers’ progress through “the valley of Death”.
The poem opens with a distance and a direction. The reader knows after the first two lines that someone is trying to cross one and a half miles, but who? What is the subject? Tennyson begins with a touch of mystery, and then takes a turn for the dark side. Suddenly the journey is through “the valley of Death,” which is highly likely a reference to a Psalm with a similar line. Finally in the fourth line Tennyson tells the reader who the subject of the poem is going to be. Six hundred horsemen are traveling a mile and a half through the valley of Death. By the time the horsemen are introduced, the reader is already intrigued. An unknown officer shouts, formally introducing the reader to the men. This is the Light Brigade of the British Army, a group of cavalry. These men ride into battle with swords...
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Tennyson uses the last stanza to push hard the idea he has been working toward all poem long: these guys have to be remembered. He asks, “When can their glory fade?” and he doesn’t want an answer. This rhetoric serves to illustrate his feelings about how long these men ought to be remembered: forever. Tennyson finishes off the poem by ordering the reader to remember the Light Brigade, his goal being that they be forever immortalized. They live on as legend in great part due to Tennyson’s work.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s ultimate goal with his poem was to immortalize the Light Brigade, his theme being that fallen heroes of war need to be commemorated forever. An underlying theme is found in the soldiers’ obedience despite knowledge of their doom. Tennyson is also telling readers that duty comes before self interest even in cases of life and death.
The first poem we are going to look at is ‘The Charge of the Light
“This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war...”
The historical context behind ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is that it is a battle in October 1854, which was a disastrous charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, Tennyson wrote the poem pointing out the courageous and the tragic.
Throughout the history of war poetry, no aspect of war can be said to feature more prominently than the representation of death and dying. While such representations are constant in their inclusion in war texts, the nature of the representation varies greatly, be it as a noble act for ones country, or as the defining negative of war. Poems such as Brooke’s ‘The Soldier’ and Seaman’s ‘Pro Patria’ are strong examples of the former; while others such as ‘Dolce et decorum est’ by Owen and ‘The Rear Guard’ by Sassoon best exemplify the latter. The question remains however as to why these representations of death and dying differ so, and whether there is a relevant relationship between the type of depiction and the time period or conflict, as well as the author’s proximity to death’s harsh reality.
The themes of the two poems are portrayed in very distinctive ways. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ explains in a majestic approach, that fighting in war is something every soldier should honour. The poem is also about the loyalty of the soldiers, not the bad luck or foolishness of men. Tennyson presents this in his poem to show the bravery of the soldiers, although, he only highlights on the benefits of war.
Reflecting the progress of the battle to the reader, it also shows the honor that the soldiers possessed. At the end of each stanza, he is reinforcing the point that the soldiers fought, that the soldiers died, and because of their sacrifice, the soldiers became heroes. Another case that Tennyson emphasizes this point is when he is describing the battle: “Boldly they rode and well, / Into the jaws of Death,”(23-24). Tennyson’s pattern so far has been to capitalize every beginning to a new word, but in these few lines he changes that and capitalizes the word “Death”. This not only draws attention to that word but gives death more meaning throughout the poem. Tennyson describes the soldiers as riding to their death, but doing it with courage. Though they had faced death and sacrificed themselves because of a mistake of a superior officer, they had still fought to the best of their ability. Their death inspires courage in others and their sense of duty makes their sacrifice deserving of honor and
...his life. The battle was very intense and the poem gives a great description of the
As poet laureate and patriot, Alfred, Lord Tennyson was very influential in 19th century England. He successfully showed the ignorance of the English Army leaders while still reflecting his strong nationalist views in an attempt to create propaganda for the Crimean War in his poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The charge was a tragic incident that took place in 1854 during the Crimean War, which was England, France and Sardinia against Russia, when English Army generals blundered and sent over six hundred soldiers on a charge that was destined for disaster. The solders were known as the Light Brigade and the charge resulted in over two hundred deaths to soldiers and over three hundred deaths to horses. In this horrific aftermath, Tennyson responded to this event by writing a poem which went on to become a classic. Tennyson was a strong nationalist and very political. He was moved and troubled when he received news of the tragic charge. The poem became a form of propaganda for the Crimean War due to Tennyson glorifying the sacrifice of the soldiers by using his exceptional writing skills. Although this poem is regarded by many as propaganda, he included the word blunder in the poem which showed the ignorance of the Army leaders.
Charge of the light brigade and O captain my captain are poems about the defects of war and the impact it can have on people and the nation. Both authors give their perspective of war and how it impacts them. In order to do so they use literary devices to give their opinions. Charge of the Light Brigade and O Captain My Captain both share a theme of war but the authors give their own point of view of war using metaphors, personification, and tone.
standards were placed of the hero’s in this poem. Many great men perished during the
The title ‘Anthem of Doomed Youth’, is juxtaposed to its real meaning of anthem being something to celebrate and be proud of. The assonance between the ‘Doomed’ and collective noun ‘Youth’ can come as a shock to society as topic of death and youth do not go together. In other words, the soldiers are too young and are already fated to death by enlisting in the war. This highlights how war is cruel as the soldiers are stolen of their youth, entering a battlefield designed to ‘sapt the soldier 's spirit.’ Furthermore, Owen shows that the fallen soldiers themselves will not get a proper burial of “candles,” “pall,” nor “flowers.” Instead, these are substituted with negative imagery “The pallor of girls’ brows” and personification “patient minds” to demonstrate that the thoughts of the ones waiting for the fallen soldiers back home are the closest thing they will have to a funeral. This is epitomised in the personification “bugles calling them from sad shires,” which conveys a nation in mourning back home. Collectively, these poetic devices in “Anthem for the Doomed Youth” shows that the death of the young soldiers negatively affects the people around
f rounding up the sonnet as well as emphasising complete grief over the loss of Youth. The contrast with the first stanza's violence makes the reader see the different aspects of war - what happens on the battlefield, and what happens at home. Owen's poem, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' is more appealing to me because it deals with two contrasting realities of war. His first stanza highlights the wastefulness of war (deaths of young soldiers) while the second stanza, the mourning for the dead. His sarcastic and later quiet tone reinforce the stark contrast between the different aspects of war.
The poem is based on Lord Tennyson describing of a huge sea monster that is
The poem comprises three stanzas which are patterned in two halves; the rule of three is ingeniously used throughout the poem to create tension and show the progression of the soldiers’ lives. There is a variety of rhyming schemes used – possibly Duffy considered using caesural rhyme, internal rhyme and irregular rhyme to better address the elegiac reality. The rhythm is very powerful and shows Duffy’s technical adroitness. It is slightly disconcerting, and adds to the other worldly ambience of the poem. Duffy uses a powerful comparative in each stanza to exemplify the monstrosity and extent of war, which is much worse than we imagine; it develops throughout each stanza, starting with a syntactical ‘No; worse.’ to ‘worse by far’ and ending on ‘much worse’. Similarly, the verbs used to describe the soldier’s shadow as he falls shows the reader the journey of the shadow, as if it’s the trajectory of soldiers’ lives. At first, the shadow is as an act...
The Eagle, a short lyrical masterpiece, only having two short stanzas with three lines each and a somewhat elementary rhyme scheme, doesn’t need length to get its point across. Tennyson does this by using many words that have more than one meeting, or connotations. Each line of this poem has a deeper or symbolic meaning to it. “He clasps the crag with crooked hands”. The “he” in this line is referring to an elderly person and he is holding a “crag”, life, with his old, weak, “crooked hands”. Close to the “sun”, heaven, in the ”lonely lands”, by himself. Elderly people are always alone whether it be mentally or actually living by themselves in and old house or a nursing home. Becoming old is synonymous with being lonely. “Ringed with the azure world he stands”, is describing someone who is very much alive. He is surrounded by old people who are crippled or cannot walk, “The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls.” “He watches” the outside world from inside of his room, “mountain walls”.