The famous charge of the British light cavalry took place at the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854.
It spanned three years, from 1853 to 1856, and was largely concerned with the territories of the Ottoman Empire, which by this time was in decline. The Crimean War was a conflict between the Russian Empire and the forces of the British Empire, French Empire, Ottoman Empire, and Kingdom of Sardinia.
#Tennyson light brigade free#
The rhymes also tend to intensify the emotion and suggest the inevitability of the situation rather than something like unrhymed free verse would have done, which would have evoked mere chaos. Anaphora is also used (repetition of the same word at the beginning of multiple lines), which here creates the sense of the barrage the soldiers were facing, and which in general intensifies the emotion of the scene. This gives the sense of boldly galloping or thundering like a drum. The meter is dactylic, meaning that one stressed syllable is succeeded by two unstressed syllables. The poem has six stanzas of differing lengths. Another famous British poet, Rudyard Kipling, took up the same event in his work “The Last of the Light Brigade,” but focused on how poorly the soldiers were treated once they were back in England. It was tremendously popular during its day, especially as it celebrated both the military and the common man’s perspective.
Tennyson’s son said later that the phrase from the article “some hideous blunder” caught his imagination in the poem Tennyson’s words are “some one had blunder’d.” The poem was also included in an 1855 publication of his works. It is said that Tennyson read a newspaper article about the Battle of Balaclava, where the charge took place, and wrote this poem within a matter of minutes. AnalysisĪs the poet laureate of England, Tennyson published this heroic and rousing poem in the Examiner on December 9, 1854, to commemorate the valiant actions of the light brigade that fought this battle in the Crimean War. The speaker wonders whether their glory will ever fade due to their heroic charge the whole world marvels at them and honors the “noble six hundred” of the Light Brigade. They have come through the jaws of Death and mouth of Hell, those who are left of the six hundred. Having accomplished what they could, they return through more cannon fire, and many more heroes and horses die.
They plunge right through the smoke and through the battle line, forcing the Cossacks and Russians back. They are surrounded by cannons, but the six hundred men ride on with courage into “the jaws of Death,” the “mouth of Hell.” They flash their sabers and slash at the gunners, six hundred men charging an entire army while the rest of the world wonders at their deeds. But the men simply obey “Theirs not to make reply, / Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die.” It was a death mission someone had made a mistake. Their leader called them to charge for the enemy’s guns. Six hundred men in the Light Brigade ride through the valley, pushing half a league ahead.
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