Poetry Analysis

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Thoughts and Analysis by Madison Nef

1.
Half a league, half a league,
 Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.

2.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
 Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.

3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
 Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
 Rode the six hundred.

4.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
 All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
 Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
 Not the six hundred.

5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
 Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
 Left of six hundred.

6.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
 All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
 Noble six hundred.

Right off the bat, I think this poem is about war. Just from how it’s written, it seems like the author was almost angry about the war, or at least how soldiers FIGHTING in the war are treated. It sees to highlight how the soldiers had no opinion, no rights and were pretty much drones just being controlled by someone who wouldn’t go and fight themselves. Below, I’ve broken down each numbered part of the poem down in my own thoughts.

Part 1
The first part of the poem is just an opening, setting up for the rest of the poem. The soldiers are given orders to go into “the valley of Death”, which I think is just a way of saying they know they are fighting and marching into certain death. However, they don’t seem to have much choice in the matter.

Part 2
This second part is showing the lack of personality the soldiers going into battle have… or maybe just the lack of rights. They know that the plan they are being told to carry out will fail, but they are not allowed to speak up against it or turn against it. “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.” It is obvious that many of them will die, but it is also their duty and so they continue onward.

Part 3
Pretty much emphasizing how the soldiers rode directly into certain death, being shot at and having to fight all the way. I’m confused as to if their reasoning for continuing was their loyalty to whomever their leader was… or if it WAS, as I think, a lack of rights and freedom. “Jaws of Death” clearly means, well, death, but as for “Mouth of Hell” I think the author was trying to stress the horrible situation they were fighting in and how bad things were for them. 

Part 4
This tells us how the battle went, to some extent- death and war while “all the world wondered” Wondered who would win, wondered what the point of the war was… wondered who would return home, perhaps? At the end of this part, it is said that they returned home after the battle… but not all 600. This is a clear indicator that many likely died in this battle, doing what they knew was wrong and would lead to their demise to begin with.

Part 5
Part 5 tells of the fall of the light brigade, for as they retreated they were attacked again. Either that or part 5 is out of place and is flashing back to the fight. Once again, there is emphasis on needless sacrifice of innocent men and death. What leads me to think that this is a second attack is because of the line “As horse and hero fell”. They wouldn’t be called heroes DURING the battle; that title would only come after. So this was likely a second attack. Due to the sixth and last part of the poem, I think that this battle was NOT won… but lost honorably.

According to Wikipedia, Tennyson wrote this poem in only 5 minutes after reading an account of the war in the Times. He wrote it not only as a tribute, but also as gratitude to those who fought in the war. That about wraps up that- I think the poem is pretty straight-forward. It is about war; no more and no less. What did you think?

Maddie