The Charge of the Light Brigade

Form 4 literature ( poem )

1. by Alfred Lord Tennyson
The Charge of the Light Brigade

2. 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.
Stanza 1

3. Forward, the Light Brigade!
'Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered :
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.
Stanza 2

4. Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell,
Rode the six hundred.
Stanza 3

5. Summary of Stanza 1
A league is an old way to measure distance, and it
was equal to about 3 miles. So half a league is
roughly a mile and a half– the brigade/battalion
wascharging forward in the battlefield.The place
where many soldiers would die in the battle (very
scary & uncertain).The exact number of soldiers
was 600, riding horses.

6. Summary of Stanza 1
The captain commanded the soldiers to move
forward bravelyNote: they are called "Light" to
separate them from the "Heavy Brigade," another
kind of cavalry unit at the time.Tennyson's poem is
based on real events. In 1854, there was a Charge
of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.The
soldiers were ordered to attack.

7. Summary of Stanza 1
The soldiers moved to the battlefield, prepared to
fight and to die fighting.The brigade was ordered
into the valley, even though they knew that they
were going to die. Emphasis on the small
number of soldiers – few but brave
soldiers riding on horseback

8. Summary of Stanza 2
Again, the captain commanded the soldiers to move
forward. Was there any soldier who would lose his
courage, be terrified or sad? Of course the Light
Brigade was too tough and loyal to feel dismayed.
These men did not feel discouraged at all. They
were ready to do their job, even though the order
might be crazy (to meet their death).

9. The soldiers knew that this charge was not a good
idea, that someone had made a mistake. The
soldiers were loyal and obedient – they did not talk
back to their commander. Or to figure out the point
of the attack. All they could do was to ride and
fight and possibly die.

Summary of Stanza 2

10. Summary of Stanza 3
The soldiers were surrounded by enemy cannon on
their left, right and front. Bad news for the Light
Brigade – they were actually surrounded by
enemies. So the huge walls of cannon all around
them were firing and making a sound like thunder.
The soldiers in the Light Brigade were being shot at
with bullets and big explosives fired from the
cannon - a violent, noisy, destructive force that
sounded like a storm.

11. Summary of Stanza 3
These soldiers were not scared of the gunfire. They
rode bravely, confidently and with determination.
It shows us how heroic these men were. They were
ready/willing to die of honour. ‘Hell’ – suffering and
torture but the soldiers were brave. 600
brave/courageous soldiers – men of honour were
dead.

12. Themes
Heroism and courage
According to the poem by Tennyson, the soldiers knew that they
were up against a better armed enemy (Russians), yet they
charged into battle with great courage. Now, this is where
everything come across very doubtful in the modern days where
we have lots of opinions and ideas. Logically, we were NOT going to
charge at any battle, IF we know enemy has better guns and bombs,
right? But, that was not modern days, they were not asked to think
about them but the country. That was the vow that they took. But,
what can do, right? Some were just bluntly followed the ruler
WITHOUT analysing anything. Too bad.

13. Patriotism
This poem was written in the heyday of extreme nationalism and
patriotism. As mentioned above, people during the war were
thinking 'the other way'. Meaning, they were always agreed with
their ruler without having 'the other thoughts'. In modern days,
people are more questioning and critical in their concept of
patriotism.
Themes

14. Themes
Duty
From the poem, even though the soldiers knew that 'someone has
blundered', still they had a strong sense of duty. It almost like, its
their duty to protect the country of their own. They had this
thought of they need to protect their families, their friends, their
parents and they had to. Why? because they obeyed the order
given to them.

15. Leadership failure
Now, my friend once said, if we want to kill the snake, we need to
smack the head first. So, in the failure of the charge by the 600
British soldiers, from what we understood from the poem, that
'someone' needed to be blamed. Why? because he was the caused of
the unfortunate ambush. Now, the poem tells us that leadership is a
serious responsibility which should be exercised with care and
sensitivity.
Themes

16. Patriotism
We nowadays lack of patriotism. Why? I do no know what made the
cause of lack of patriotism, but we really need to change the
attitude on that. We need to love our country like we love
ourselves. The poem tells us that the spirit of self-sacrifice shown
by the soldier even though they knew they might not survive the
battle.
Moral Values

17. Moral Values
Duty
We need to be responsible person at all time. Why? because we are
our own responsibility. We need to have a sense of duty and
obligation in our work. By doing the best at any time, we have a
step closer to a better person. As the soldiers in the poem, they had
to go the battle because its their duty. That came from the sense of
obedience that those soldiers had.

18. Anti-war Sentiment
This is actually one of the moral values. Anti-war sentiment, have
you ever heard of the war in Vietnam? Thailand? Iraq? Syria? Iran?
What would be benefits for BOTH parties? Answer? Nothing. It only
brought benefits to one party. We as human, who happened to have
great minds need to think about our environment. Wars did not just
effect the Man but also the nature and wars killed humans. The
poem can also be seen as subtle attack on the wastage of lives in
war.
Moral Values