Poetry The Charge of the Light Brigade Flashcards
(5 cards)
‘Valley of death’
‘Valley of death’
This repeated metaphor alluded to a passage from the Bible’. This refrain shows a place of fear and temptation. In the psalm, the speaker’s faith in God protects him or her from the terrors of the “valley of the shadow of death.” The cavalry faces a similarly stark and dire terror as they charge against the enemy artillery, particularly when they know they are doomed to ‘die’. And they withstand this terror, the speaker will eventually argue, through their unusual bravery. It’s a suicidal charge. It gives an apocalyptic sense of the destruction in the battlefields. It emphasizes the courage of the men and how fearless they are.
‘Theirs not to make reply…Theirs but to do and die’
‘Theirs not to make reply…Theirs but to do and die’
‘Theirs’- Anaphora: the cavalrymen are sensitive to their place in the military hierarchy: it’s not their place to dispute their orders or to raise questions with their commanders. The speaker lays this out using a series of highly repetitive sentences. Each sentence has the same structure; each line starts with the same word showing the distinct juxtaposition between them and their superiors. They are happy to obey their superiors.
‘do and die’-role of the light brigade is simply “to do and die.” In other words, it’s not the soldiers’ job to question or quarrel; instead, they execute the orders they receive, even if it means dying in the process. The alliteration emphasizes the connection between ‘doing’ and ‘dying’. For the members of the light brigade, the two are inextricable: to execute the orders they’ve received they have no choice but to die. End stops shows their confidence and certainty.
‘When can their glory fade?’
‘When can their glory fade?’
Rhetorical question – makes the reader think about how the soldiers’ deaths were pointless but their sacrifice needs to be honoured. Their ‘glory’ should never fade.
We need to remember the soldiers – Tennyson wants to immortalize their memory and sacrifice – and the army needs to learn from their mistakes.
Tennyson?
Lourette poet (peoples poet) writes for whole country and captures the mood.
He wanted respect for soldiers for fallowing the odders and wanted to criticize those in power who wasted their lives.
Structure?
Ballad – story of charge with tragic ending.
Volta ‘but not the six hundred’ – change in tone
Rhythm is dactylic dimeter (two stress syllable followed by two unstressed) to reflect the pounding of the horse’s hooves.
