Powerlessness in The Charge of the Light Brigade

Looking at Tennyson’s ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘If’ by Kipling, power is presented in various and conflicting ways within each poem. One thing is clear in both poems however; the speaker or narrator in each poem has the power over the subject of the poem. In Tennyson, the speaker merely commentates on the event itself with hindsight and takes it upon himself to decide what honour is and distributes it to the soldiers. Kipling’s speaker, in similar fashion, dictates what honour is and therefore holds the power over his son and also the reader. They do contrast however in so far as Tennyson commends the actions of the light brigade whereas Kipling’s speaker is telling his son how to achieve honour.
Looking at ‘If’ the speaker in the poem is appears to be a man talking to his son. With this one can immediately associate power as Fathers have authority and therefore have the power in the father/ son relationship. Kipling demonstrates this power balance by giving advice and instructing the son on how to be better, insinuating what is the right which highlights his authority. Although presented through a father/son relationship, Kipling’s message in the poem isn’t confined to it. The speaker in the poem could be either male or female as it isn’t explicitly a man talking and could be a mother giving her son advice about how to be a good man. There is also lines in the text which we associate with motherly advice such as “if you can force your heart and nerve and sinew…” in which the talk of the heart is not a subject that fathers stereotypically talk to their sons about. Contrastingly one could argue that the speaker is not a parent at all and is merely someone offering advice to a younger generation of men on how to be better as “my son!” is something males say to other males of no relation as a term of endearment but also presenting that they have authority.
In ‘If’, Kipling associates being “a Man” with power and honour. Honour is a major theme in both