Cole, Hunter, Jane Elizabeth, Lindsay, and Ryan
Steph Stripling
English 2130 Section 04
1 Feb 2016
Poetry Analysis
Critical Essay
“The Charge of the Light Brigade,” by Alfred Tennyson, depicts an actual battle that took place in the 1800s outside of the city of Balaklava. During the battle 600 members of a light brigade unit were mistakenly ordered to charge, and the poem narrates the events of the charge. In order to memorialize the 405 fallen troops, Tennyson utilizes descriptive language that highlights the nobility, honor, and heroics of the fallen troops. The field in which the light brigade charge is known only as the “valley of death,” and Tennyson states that the brigade rode “into the mouth of Hell” (Tennyson). These uses of death and Hell aid in displaying the bravery of the light brigade. The speaker of the poem states “boldly they rode and well” and “honour the light brigade,” which serves to illustrate the light brigade as a group of brave and trained soldiers who died nobly in combat (lines 23, 54). The speaker of this poem views the light brigade as a group of brave men who faced insurmountable odds, and despite the fact they lost, the soldiers still died as heroes. The speaker creates this musing by comparing the battlefield to Hell and calling the soldiers heroes. Through the language used in this poem, the speaker creates a situation in which a group of soldiers charge into Hell, and those that managed to survive went to Hell and back also managed to survive the valley of death. Those that were not as lucky as their 195 surviving brigade members died as heroes who displayed their bravery by facing a no win situation, and charging without hesitation. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” serves to memorialize soldiers that died due to an order that was mistakenly made, and through its language chooses to remember the soldiers as brave heroes rather than as foolish minions.
After reading the poem and gathering an understanding of “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” one word that seems crucial to the overall theme is the word “honorable”. Although it is not directly stated in the poem, the word honorable is implied and understood. The men of the light brigade keep charging forward even though fellow soldiers are falling and were given incorrect orders. The overall theme is that courage can be found in the face of failure. Even though the men were given the wrong orders and thus doomed, they fought with honor to when the last man fell. The poem states “boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of death” (line 23). This statement ties back to the word honorable because even though they were most likely fearful of what was to come, they embodied the word honorable by not questioning their order to charge into the “jaws of death” (line 24). By the end of the poem, it says, “oh the wild charge they made… honor the charge they made” (lines 51, 53). The men were honorable because they followed orders even though they may not have been the correct orders. The men pushed through the anarchy without questioning their commander, which makes them honorable. Although not all six hundred men returned after entering the “jaws of death,” they were still honorable and heroic because they kept fighting even though they probably should have retreated and not fought.
Tennyson uses short, action-packed stanzas to describe the events of this particular battle in a powerful way. The Poetry Foundation article describes his writing style saying, “his primary consideration was more often rhythm and language than discursive meaning.” (Alfred, Lord Tennyson.) This is very evident in the way that Tennyson wrote “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” featuring six brief stanzas with lots of rhyming, repetition, and imagery. Although none of stanzas have exactly the same format, there are some repeated rhyme schemes. For example, the pattern in Stanza III starts with AAABCCDCB, and Stanza V is AAABCCCDCEB – they start out very similarly, even using the same first lines, but then branch off towards the end of the stanza. Tennyson is able to command a lot of action through his minimal use of words by emphasizing the important facts with repetition. Stanzas III and V are very similar, but sandwiched between them is the big battle scene in Stanza IV. However, the use of repetition here illustrates how the British people were still just as proud of their brave troops even after making the fatal decision to charge their opponents.The History Channel says in an article online that this Crimean War confusion, the result of British troops reacting to a vague order from the commander-in-chief, was later known as “the most magnificent assault known in military annals and the greatest blunder known to military tactics.” (The Charge of the Light Brigade, 160 Years Ago.). Tennyson is able to describe the story in a singsong rhythm that makes readers feel like children listening to an old tale. The first half of the poem leads up to the battle, and depicts the troops as being bold and charging. The fourth stanza is the longest, describing the confusion and time-stopping nature of the contact with their Russian opponents, which takes the lives of most soldiers. The final two stanzas are like the aftershock of the battle, where the troops are wounded but still glorified by their country for their bravery (Tennyson). The last stanza is the shortest, with only six lines, but these lines repeatedly emphasize that the troops will still be honored and praised for their service.
In this poem, death is personified as a being that holds domain over the valley where the charge is taking place, as well as being an entity or being that comes to devour the fallen soldiers. When stating in stanza one, line seven, “Into the valley of Death” and stanza three, line seven “Into the jaws of Death”, these figures of speech create a sense of finality. This emotional effect the line has upon the poem also plays a role in its overall theme. The finality, and the futility of the situation these soldiers face is emphasized by heading straight toward this personified version of death. This creates a sense of desperation in the person reading the poem as well as a sense of awe. The soldiers faced death with honor. They knew that once they charged there would be no going back. It was a final, irreversible act. And as the poem continues and repeats the fact that the soldiers charged, one of the themes of the poem is driven home to the reader. The theme that is driven home by the emotional effect personified death plays, is that facing down destiny can be done with honor. The personification of death plays a key role in helping this theme be developed.
“Jaws of Death” and “Mouth of Hell” are two metaphors that are extended in the fact that they are both ways to personify the setting (Tennyson, lines 24, 25). The “Jaws of Death” is a metaphor standing for the Russian army being a terrifying killing machine. The “Mouth of Hell” stands for the battle and the horrible carnage that comes along with it. These metaphors give the reader a more interesting way to visualize the poem. The soldiers in the poem had to charge with a much smaller army with is why the author chose those metaphors to give the poem more imagery. These metaphors were used to show that there was no return and that once they charged they truly entered the waiting hell. As the soldiers charged the Russian army they were being engulfed by the much larger and more equipped army. Being described as jaws makes it easy to see once the brigade was surrounded by the Russian army there was no escaping. The oldest know use of the phrase "out of the jaws of death" actually was in Shakespeare's play "The Twelfth Night," written in 1601. However, "The Twelfth Night" is a comedy based on a character pretending to be her twin brother, as opposed to the beautiful tragedy that is "The Charge of the Light Brigade." "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is also referenced in the movie, "The Blind Side," which is about a boy learning how to be brave and play football. His parents tell him this story to illustrate that you stick by your team no matter what, which finally clicks for the main character and ultimately improves his football game. This movie is based on a true story, but was originally published as a book written by Michael Lewis (Lewis).
In summary, this poem describes the epic events of an unfortunate battle. Tennyson uses powerful words and evocative imagery that allow the reader to visualize the heroic charge of the doomed brigade. Since this is a historical non-fiction poem, it acts as a tribute to a famous incident that spanned both social and cultural facets of British history. Tennyson chose very impactful words to convey the dramatic scenes of this story in a brief and beautiful way.