The Charge Of The Light Brigade

The Charge of the Light Brigade Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, is one that triggers so many emotions, both good and bad. When I read this poem, I felt inspired and sad, motivated and angry, all at once. This poem was so powerful that I read it again just because of how captivated I was by it. In this poetic analysis, I will explain Tennyson’s background and the story of the poem, themes that I noticed, stylistic form, critical opinions, and the emotions that Tennyson strives for his readers to feel. Alfred Lord Tennyson was a popular, well-known British poet in the late 19th century- early 20th century. He was Poet Laureate of Victorian England, the period of Queen Victoria’s reign. Other short poems of
These soldiers are ordered to charge an enemy group and fight. This poem uses intense war descriptions; anyone who reads this poem gets a good feel that these soldiers are stuck in a battle for their lives. One intense war description, “Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them volleyed and thundered.” (Lines 18-21) This part gives a sense that the soldiers are surrounded by enemy weaponry. The cannon shots are described in a vivid way, comparing them to the loudness of thunder. Tennyson explains that the soldiers rode, “Into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell.” (Lines 24-25) If there were two places I would not want to go in my life, it would definitely be the “jaws of death” and the “mouth of hell”. Those sound like the worst possible places to be, so I get a clear image of the soldiers charging directly into the most dangerous circumstances. The tragedy of this poem is that this brigade of soldiers, with so much loyalty and courage, are ordered to fight in a battle they can’t win. I can relate this somewhat to Rocky IV when Sylvester Stallone fights the enormous Russian machine, Ivan Drago. Rocky’s wife, Adrian, tells Rocky before he leaves for Moscow, “You can’t win Rock.” But, because it’s a Hollywood storybook sports-movie ending, he uses that as motivation and beats Drago against all odds. Tennyson’s poem reminds me of this movie because the soldiers are against all odds to win this battle but they don’t know it. Rocky knew that his chances of winning the fight were slim to none, which made him focus that much harder. It makes me wonder, if the brigade’s commander had told them that the battle would basically be a suicide mission, maybe they would’ve miraculously conquered their