The relentless repetition of the details of the battlefield is meant to immerse us in the world of the poem, to give us a gut-level sense of the intensity of war. Almost half the Brigade was wiped out, and though little was accomplished strategically, the charge went down as one of the most glorious battles in British military history. The charge took place at the Battle of Balaclava, during Britain’s war with Russia in the Crimea in the mid 19th century. But though the orders were clearly suicidal, the men obeyed regardless and paid a heavy price. The poem recounts an assault by a brigade of British cavalry under the command of Lord James Thomas Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, which cost the lives of 113 men and injured 143 others. He carefully limits his descriptions of the enemy to keep us completely sympathetic with the Light Brigade. Instead, the Brigade was directed to a Russian position, which was a clear death trap. He wrote The Charge Of The Light Brigade in response to a Newspaper Report from the Times, which was written by W. He was born in 1809 and died of old age in 1892. Do you think this poem glorifies war? Does it criticize it? How can you tell?Įven though the Russians were half of the battle, the speaker couldn't care less about them. A more experienced poet known as Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote the Charge Of The Light Brigade.Do you really feel like you're there, in the heat of the battle? Why or why not?.How does Tennyson's description of battle compare to more modern pieces of art that also depict war? (Hint: We're thinking movies, music, poetry, you name it.).How does the speaker talk about actual violence in this poem? Why do you think he doesn't include more blood and gore?.This is revealed in many similar and different ways: One of the ways in which poets present the ideas of. Why don't we hear more about the Light Brigade's enemy in this poem? Why are there no real descriptions of the Russians? In the poems ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson and ‘Exposure’ by Wilfried Owen, both poets incorporate ideas of patriotism to convey a message about the futility of war.Notice that most of the images and descriptions in the poem relate to warfare: cannon, bullets, smoke, sabres, etc. It spends a lot of time describing the confusion, the terror, the bloodshed, and, yes, also the heroism and excitement of armed combat. Ultimately, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is a poem about a battle.
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