The language in the charge of the Light Brigade is quite melodramatic “into the jaws of death into the mouth of hell”.
Although in the kiss the language is religious almost like a prayer “to these I turn” and “sweet sister” Sassoon uses contradictions as an ironic use of language like the bullet as a positive image “strong rage” and the bayonet as beauty.
The language in the kiss is almost simply uncomplicated.
The structure of the charge of the Light Brigade is generally through repetition for instance “Rode the six hundred not the six hundred noble six hundred” and “Cannon to the right of them cannon to the left of them” also has different schemes of rhyme irregular rhyming for instance “Half a league half a league half a league onward” and rolling rhythm “ plunged in the battery smoke, right thro the line they broke”.
Although in the kiss the structure is in ABBA, which has regular structure, length and rhyme scheme all the way through.
The imagery in Tennyson’s poem is that he makes war poetic and glorious like “flash’d all their sabres bare, flash’d as turn’d in the air sabring the gunners there” they are fighting the gunners eith their bare sabres.
The imagery in the kiss shows how the bullet “spins and burns and loves the air” Its almost as if the bullet is having fun.
And when Sassoon says “sweet sister grant your soldier this” its like asking the female (bayonet) to kiss like a women.
The bayonet is swift, accurate and cold, almost unemotional and unapproachable and the bullet enjoys power (impartial) goes where it is aimed also its less subtle and sharp.
In Tennyson’s poem it says “all in the valley of death” which seems like the valley itself is alive and when it says “forward the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” its like they’re charging into the valley of death itself.
In Sassoon’s poem the kiss its like the kiss of death or the kiss of betrayal and it’s the last contact before you die or the kiss before you go to sleep.
The moods in both poems are very different.
For instance, in the charge of the Light Brigade its about the Crimean war which makes it very heroic a very powerful heart felt poem, even though Alfred Lord Tennyson was not involved in it.
Sassoon was in world war one, Tennyson’s poem is very positive he says, “rode back instead of retreated but the kiss is very much symbolised with religion like “I make appeal” which means praying.
I think in the kiss Siegfried Sassoon must have seen quite disturbing incidents with a bayonet or a bullet because he speaks as if they are his own like they are a part of him that’s why he calls them brother and sister.
I think when Tennyson looks back on the defeat of the Brigade he tries to look back on the positive images because in his poem there are hardly any negative comments about the war,
“Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade!”
I think these are both two great War poets with great emotion and creativity put into them, which makes them both very exiting poems to read.
By Daniel Gee
