The Charge of the Light Brigade Flashcards
Who wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred Tennyson
What is The Charge of the Light Brigade about
the poem describes a disastrous battle between British Cavalry and Russian force, a misunderstanding meant the Light Brigade were ordered to advance into a valley surrounded by enemy soldiers, the cavalry were only armed with swords whereas the Russians has guns, the Light Brigade were virtually defenceless against their enemies and many were killed
What is the form of The Charge of the Light Brigade
third person - story like, regular relentless rhythm creates a fast pace imitating the cavalry’s advance and the energy of the battle, rhyming couplets and triplets drive the poem forwards but momentum is broken by unrhymed line which could mirror the stumbling horse, overall lack of rhyme scheme hints a chaotic war, ‘Half a league’ - repeated to represent the hooves and that they are unstoppable
What is the structure of The Charge of the Light Brigade
poem tells a story of the battle in chronological order from the charge of the men in the first 3 stanzas to the battle in the fourth and the retreat in the fifth, the final stanza is shorter and summarises the heroism of the brigade
What is the repetition of The Charge of the Light Brigade
repetition creates a sense of impending doom and inevitability, repetition of ‘six hundred’ at the end of each stanza reinforces the idea of the large numbers of men involved with the references to them summarising the story of the battle, ‘Theirs not to make reply’ - shows their obedience even though they knew they would certainly die, ‘Cannon to the right’ - soldiers are surrounded by enemy guns, ‘left of six hundred’ - lives have been lost and makes the reader have empaty
What is the heroic language of The Charge of the Light Brigade
adverbs like ‘Boldly’ and verbs like ‘charging’ emphasise the men’s bravery, respectful language shows how that narrator feeling the soldiers should be remembered, ‘All the world wonder’d’ - double meaning = people marvelled at their bravery or wondered by they were sent on the charge, ‘horse and hero fell’ - sense of admiration
What is the violent language of The Charge of the Light Brigade
the narrator chooses powerful verbs and adjectives to give a strong sense of the violence of the battoe and uses sounds to create a vivid, noisy and hellish setting, ‘jaws of Death’ ‘mouth of Hell’ - personified to make it seem as if they cannot escape, ‘sabre stroke’ - sibilance sounds vicious
What are the feelings and attitudes of The Charge of the Light Brigade
admiration - the narrator admires the bravery and sacrifice of the men because they obeyed orders even though they knew it death was likely, he thinks that the world should recognise their bravery, patriotism - the men followed the orders because of their duty to their country and the speaker portrays them as heroes for doing this
What are the themes of The Charge of the Light Brigade
effects of conflict, reality of conflict, identity
What language/techniques does The Charge of the Light Brigade have
repetition, heroic language, violent language
