Rule Britannia sees war as a holy thing, war is something that God would not condemn. This is achieved by the chorus 'Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;' this gives the impression that Britain should rule the waves, the word rule is used in an interesting way. When I first read this poem I thought that the word was Royal, as in it was a holy thing. I believe this is a deliberate effect, the word rule is there to make the reader think that Britain should rule the sea but I think it is also there deliberately as a simile to make the reader to think of Royal which would make the reader think that ruling the sea is a command from God. If it was a command from God it would mean that he was telling Britain to rule the sea, so fight any wars they need to accomplish this. Rule Britannia is a very confident poem, no where in the poem does doubt creep in.
'Rule, Britannia, rule the wave
Briton will never be slaves'
When you read this you see the image of people singing this loud. This implies that this poem is for war. The writer James Tompson implies that war is a jolly thing something that has to be done, this is accomplished by the chorus. The chorus of poem is meant to be sung. When I think of singing I associate it with events which are right and merry, it is not very often you sing about sad things. When the poem was written James tompson knew this and deliberately made it so the chorus would be sung. In Rule Britannia the poem fails to mention of the negative, he even goes to the extent of saying that war just makes Britain stronger, this can be seen in my third quote on page one.
The Charge of the Light Brigade is very confident on the surface but then some doubt seems to creep in. The crucial line in this poem is, 'Some one had blundered:'. This line is extremely impersonal. It is the first sign of doubt creeping in. Later on in the charge of the light Brigade the same line is repeated twice, this line is ' All the world wondered'. This line shows that people were questioning why these men were fighting, what was the point of this. This view of doubt never entered the first poem, it was like everyone was agreed that war was a great thing. In the second poem this doubt comes in and Tennyson shows that not everyone thinks that war is so glorious. Unlike the Rule Britannia the Charge of the Light Brigade mentions negative things about war. I believe Tennyson is trying to show the reader that the war is not all great, people do die. As I mentioned before the line about someone blundering is extremely impersonal which implies that in war there are no individuals in war, everyone is just seen as cannon fodder, if you die no one cares. The way the line is said makes this event sound like it happens often, normally when someone blunders or dies you would be shocked but the way it is said makes it sound like a common event of war, Tennyson has deliberately not used a explanation mark. I believe this is him trying to show there is no shock. In war there are deaths all the time, it is nothing special I believe this is what the author is trying to show. Rule Britannia sees War something that is necessary, it needs to be done to control the 'tyrants', without war these 'criminals' would take the seas, Rule Britannia even gives the impression that the ruling the sea is a command from God. The charge of the light brigade is completely opposite to the view that war is backed by God. Tennyson associates war with death, 'Back from the mouth of Death', which implies that when these men where charging, they were going into hell. So when they fight they are entering hell, Tennyson is saying that War is thing of the Devil so it is evil. The charge of the light brigade implies that war creates heroes. This can be seen by 'Stormed at with shot and shell.
'While horse and hero fell' and
'Honour the charge they made
Honour the light Brigade'
When the soldiers started they were described in a very impersonal way, now they are being described as heroes. This would make the reader think that the poet opinion is that the people who fight in war become heroes.
The word 'charge' implies the image that this attack was very uncontrolled an unorganised attack. The charge of the light Brigade is very confident on the surface but doubt does creep in the further you go in. This poem has a rhyme which imitates horses galloping (an old fashion style of attack), while the enemy’s equipment is more modern with there cannons, modern equipment. All through the charge of the light brigade there are associations with death and the devil, 'Jaws of hell' and ' Into the valley of Death'. I believe this is a deliberate attempt to create the image of men charging and being swallowed into death, the reference to hell makes you think of something hot and sweaty a uncomfortable atmosphere. The quotation 'valley of Death' has been taken from the bible. This is odd because there is a battle about to commence but the writer has opted to use quotes from the bible to help build the atmosphere up, the way that you interpret this is left up to the reader and I believe this is a deliberate effect. Tennyson has used repartition of.
' Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them'
This has the effect of emphasising they were surrounded, completely outnumbered. This would imply that the attack was unplanned because they were completely outnumbered. Repartition is also used for ' all the world wondered'. This has two meanings of this the first is that people were doubt why this people were fighting, they were thinking was it really work it? The other possible is that it may be seen as how they were brave, and how the world was thinking how brave these men were. Tennyson describes the cannon fire as 'Volleyed and thundered', he is relating it to thunder. Thunder is something which is hard to hide from which creates the image of the men getting hit with cannon fire and not being able to dodge it. The charge of the light Brigade has two endings, the first one was edited so it was suitable for the reader. The ending which is printed in this booklet honours the men who took part in the charge more that the other ending. The second ending describes the actions of the men as 'bold' which implies that the actions of the men were stupid and not thought out. The ending printed makes these men to be heroes how they were 'noble'. The ending which was not printed ends in ' how rode onwards'. When this is read the reader would think, why they rode forward at the guns? Why were they allowed to make such a tactically bad move.
The charge of the light Brigade has a very quick moving rhyme while Attack has a very slow moving rhyme which is shown by 'Jostle' and 'Clumsily', it is obvious that these two poems have different opinions at the speed at which the war was fought. At the time that Light Brigade was fought, Wars would be done by people charging at each other at quick speeds and these fights would be over in matter of hours but the first world war was different Attacks were more tactically thought out and went on for months. In the charge of the light brigade it implies that the soldiers are not allowed to think if what they are doing is justified or sensible, they don’t have a opinion, this is shown by
'Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die'
In attack the soldiers clearly show their opinion about what they think about their enemy, 'glowering sun'. This implies that the sun is there enemy and how they are not looking forward to fighting. The charge of the light brigade seems very confident about what is doing at the beginning there is no doubt they will not win or they will die. This is in contrast to attack where the first stanza is littered with references to death, for example 'shroud', this is something which covers a coffin. Attack makes the reader that the only reason for war is for people to die, when you die you have accomplished your aim,' Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire'. When I read that I think two things, the first is image of poor organisation the second is that why are these men trying to meet the fire, are they so scared of attacking the enemy that they would rather die. The charge of the light brigade creates a very organised image of all the men charging. The main thing which both poems agree on is how the men are not allowed to show what they think, in the charge this is shown by ''Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die'
In attack it is shown by 'masked by fear'.
Unlike the other two poems attack starts very pessimistically, ' in the wild purple of the glowering sun', this sounds very negative and the word wild is used which suggest unpredictability. The smoke is said to be 'shroud the menacing scared slope', the word shroud if very significant because it means hide but it is also something which is used to cover a coffin, this suggest there are many dead on this hill. The other thing which is suggested from this is that the slope is injured or damaged, this is shown by 'scared', the war has ruined this hill and it is suggest there are dead on it. The tanks are said to 'creep' and 'topple', these are words which you will not normally associate with war, this is another pessimistic description. The tanks which are normally made out to be mighty are made out to be something which is frankly pathetic, just like the sun was made out earlier. The men who are leaving the trenches are described in a very impersonal way 'lines of grey muttering faces, masked with fear' the way the men are described as lines of grey suggest that they are all the same, all scared of what is going to happen. The men are said to be muttering, what they are actually saying is not said, I believe this is a deliberate effect thought to me I think that these men would be saying prays. The men are also hiding there fear, they are putting on a brave face for the there fellow soldiers. Latter on a image is created of the men looking at their watches, 'while time ticks blank and busy on their wrist', this makes me think that the men are looking at their watches thinking how long till they die. The time is said to tick blank, this is trying to show that now time means nothing, what does it matter they are going to be dead soon. In the next line the word 'hope' is used, when you first read this you think that the hope is the men staying alive but on closer inspection it makes you think that the hope is of them dieing quick and with no pain. The last line is made to be a prayer; the word Jesus is deliberately not used, Jesu is used to make it sound prayer like. This has the effect of making the reader thinking how desperate things are, they are praying for God for help.
In summary I would say that Rule Britannia is for war, how the writer sees it as a Godly thing, you could ever say that they look forward to wars because it just makes them stronger. Thought the person who wrote has never fought in a war. The charge of the light brigade is the poem which is not really for war but it is not really against war, the poem does relate war with death and doubt does creep in but the poem does make the men who fought into heroes. The last poem attack is clearly against war, the writer of this fought in a war so his poem is most reliable out of the three. Attack shows how the men don’t want to fight and makes war out to be a very sad event where people just want to die and get it over with.
