A Comparison of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson with "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen

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A Comparison of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson with "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen

War poetry is written for a variety of reasons. They may be written from the poet’s personal experience or from second-hand knowledge; often an important factor affecting the poem’s significance and viewpoint of war. A war poem may be written to console the bereaved: to reassure them that a soldier’s death is a noble and heroic sacrifice. Glorifying war in poetry has also been used as government propaganda to keep public morale high and to encourage patriotism during a war. A poet who has served in a war may wish to express their personal reaction to the battle scene, they may write of the grief, terror and bitterness of war. A war poem could be written to depict the reality of warfare, a true image that aims to dispel the mythical vision of war seen by the public.

        "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson is a narrative poem based on Russel’s account in the Times of the Charge, which took place during the Crimean War. The poem describes the Light Brigade’s hopeless charge towards the enemy’s main artillery position. Their commander had mistaken his orders, and instead of sending the cavalry to retrieve some captured British guns, he sent them into a valley where the Russians were waiting with their firearms. The 600 men armed only with sabres could not match the Russian guns and cannons and few survived the short battle.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" is a poem celebrating the glory of a death battling for one’s country. Tennyson commands his readers to honour and admire the soldiers of the Light Brigade for nobly carrying out their orders despite realising the hopelessness of their mission,

         “When can their glory fade?

        …Honour the charge they made!”

The soldiers’ deaths are described in epic but impersonal terms, emphasising their fearless heroism.

Tennyson uses images of death and hell to depict the terror of the battle scene,

        “Into the jaws of Death,

          Into the mouth of Hell”

The personification of death and hell implies that death is waiting to consume the soldiers and that the scene ahead is so horrifying for the soldiers it resembles hell. The “valley of Death” is also referred to, a Biblical reference, which ominously suggests that the soldiers are facing certain death.

        Repetition is a technique often used in "The Charge of the Light Brigade." It is used to emphasise different points of the poem.

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The first two lines of the poem establish the strong rhythm of the poem and emphasise it using repetition,

        “Half a league, half a league,

         Half a league onward,”

The poem has a rhythm of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables which recreates for the reader a sense of the excited, galloping motion of the cavalry riding into battle.

        The unfaltering obedience of the soldiers is also emphasised using repetition and rhyme,

        “Theirs’ not to make reply,

          Theirs’ not to reason why,

          Theirs’ but to do and die.”

These lines convey to the reader the ...

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