The second line – “Behind the Wagon that we flung him in” really drives home how little honour these men were afforded. The man was “flung” onto the wagon, the word “flung” seeming to imply that the man was nothing more than another soldier, one more life given for the cause, merely cannon fodder- again you seem to ask yourself- Where is the honour in this?
The description and use of language in the last verse of the poem is aimed at trying to convince those not yet convinced by the previous descriptions in the poem, of the horror of war.
With the two lines –
“And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devils sick of sin;”
Wilfred Owen conjures a fearful image, and when he describes the mans face like a devil sick of sin, he links this image of the trenches to that of a hellish playground, of fire and brimstone (bringing your mind back to the gas attack – “and Flound’ring like a man in fire or lime”) and describes this mans face as something unimaginable, for never would the devils face be sick of sin.
“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile incurable sores on innocent tongues,”
Wilfred Owen describes this poor mans grim fate, no one part of him safe from the effect of the gas, nothing able to help him, a man doomed to his fate as a soldier.
The use of words such a “obscene”, “ bitter”, “corrupted” etc again condemning the sense of honour that some might suggest this may should have felt. The description comparing the gas’s affect on the man to that of cancer, giving you the impression that it is something fearful and wrong (cancer often being viewed by many as a terrible illness and one to be feared – incurable and deadly).
“My Friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.”
The last 2 lines other than the poems proverb, relate to the fact that the men in the trenches were mostly in their late teens and untrained men “ardent for some desperate glory”, drawn in to the war by conscription and the stories told to them of the honour and glory of fighting and dieing for ones country, a lie as the entire poem and obviously the last lines suggest.
“Dulce et Decorum Est” more than adequately sums up Wilfred Owen’s feelings and views of trench warfare. The pointless loss of life and his own experiences of war compelling Wilfred Owen to write this poem, his inspiration lying in hospital beds around him as he wrote.
Charge of the Light Brigade unlike, “Dulce et Decorum est” chooses to honour the men who fought in the war it writes about, yet still has an undertone of the same sentiment, as “Dulce et Decorum est”, whereby they grieve over such a loss of life.
Upon reading the first few lines of the poem, one can notice a distinct rhythm to it.
This rhythm gives more feeling to the poem and also allows certain things to be put across or emphasised by interrupting or changing the rhythm. This is different to “Dulce et Decorum est” which uses little rhythm and relies more on its vivid imagery and power of its words. This is probably the effect of the two poets positions, Tennyson being the poet laureate and therefore being drawn to write a poem with more of a melody and beat to it, whereas Wilfred Owen being a new poet and wishing not to write a poem pleasing to the ear but a poem that would get his point across.
“Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
Into the Valley of Death,
Rode the six hundred”
Tennyson uses the term Valley of Death, instead of simply saying they rode into the valley, emphasising the fact that the battle they ride into was sheer suicide and causing you to feel a hint of pity and praise for these men who rode bravely into the face of death.
The words “Rode the six hundred” echoed and changed throughout the verses to reflect how the men were losing their lives and how out of the six hundred of the Light Brigade sent into the battle only a sparse few returned.
“‘Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns! He said:
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred”
The rhythm is broken here on the sixth line of the first stanza, the words “he said” out of place, not fitting with the general rhythm there, but obviously put there for a reason by the at the time Poet Laureate(having written the poem honouring the Light Brigade at the Queens request). Obviously having been asked by the Queen to write a poem honouring the Light Brigade and their final battle, Tennyson was prevented from writing anything obviously damning about the generals who ordered these men to their deaths, but this did not prevent him from voicing his feelings about the mistakes made that cost these men their lives behind a subtle veil of nuances and false rhythms. The break in rhythm is there to bring notice to the words that break that rhythm- “he said”, a man made the mistake, it was not something that would have happened anyway, it was a mistake that a man had made and had another made it, then maybe the disaster could have been avoided and these men spared their lives.
“Into the valley of death” – again Tennyson brings notice to this fact, the men are riding to their deaths, this was no play, no story, where men fight and then get up when the curtains fall, these men died in that valley and should be honoured for their loss.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismay’d
Not tho the soldier knew
Some one had blundered”
Again – “Forward the Light Brigade” is repeated, as if the soldiers had faltered thinking the order the mistake it was. This is Tennyson’s way of again showing his feelings about the mistake made that cost so many lives.
“Was there a man dismay’d” – Tennyson shows how the men valiantly obeyed their generals orders and rode to their deaths. Tennyson shows us that the men were ready to die for their country and that they should be honoured for this. This is a major difference compared with “Dulce et Decorum est” as “Dulce et Decorum est” tries to show how little honour there was in the war, where “Charge of the Light Brigade” honours these men for their sacrifice. The difference can easily be put down to the difference between the two poets and their circumstance. Alfred Tennyson was writing the poem using second hand information and regarding a war far less brutal in some ways than the war Wilfred Owen writes of. Wilfred Owen has seen the loss of life and horrific death of his friends and has lived in the hellish nightmare that was the trenches in world war one, and so he has a much more cynical view of honour because of it.
This honouring of the Light Brigade leads on to the famous three lines-
“Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die”
The men did not question their orders, they obeyed them without word or request and rode to their deaths for their king and country. Tennyson emphasises again, these men were brave, honourable men who fought and died to keep their fellow countrymen free from the enemy and bringing glory to their homeland, they deserve respect and honour from the men and women they died to protect and serve.
“Into the valley of Death,
Rode the six hundred.”
These last two lines again echoes the ideas of the previous lines of the poem, it pushes home the message, these men are brave men they are riding to meet their deaths, all for king and country. It also put forth the idea again of how these men are being run into a trap, their deaths a by-product of their generals stupidity. In this Tennysons asks not Wilfred Owens Question – Where is the honour to be found in this? – but an equally important question- Where is the honour in sending these men to deaths?
“Cannon to right of them
Cannon to left of them
Cannon in from of htem,
Volley’d and thunder’d
Storm’d at with shot and shell”
These first 5 lines of the third stanza set the scene of the battle, the futile charge of the light brigade. Surrounded by cannons, firing at them as they enter the valley, the sounds of these cannons echoing through the valley ( The impression of sound given by the use of words such as storm’d and thunder’d). Death is the only road open for these men to walk.
“Boldy they rode and well,
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the Six hundred.”
These lines again urge you to honour the light brigades sacrifice, comparing the valley to the mouth of hell, comparing the task of facing this army to that of facing the armies of hell, an all but impossible feat, yet these men rode bold and defiant into the “jaws of death”.
“Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d”
Again in the first lines of the fourth stanza Tennyson brings us images of the battle scene, the light brigade charging at the enemy, swords drawn, attacking the cannons and gun emplacements. Then in the fifth line you have a change from the description to a simple statement- “While, All the world wonder’d” – this statement, and the breaking of the rhythm, bringing you back to the second stanza, “Not tho the soldiers knew, Someone had blunder’d”, blunder’d echoed forth into the forth stanza to reiterate the point, someone had made a mistake and wasted these men’s lives.
“Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d,”
The idea of honour and bravery is really brought to the surface here, the Russians and Cossacks described as being reeled back at the sabre strokes, as if the Russians and Cossacks are awed at such bravery of men riding at a host in a far better situation than itself. The light brigade who are at such an over whelming disadvantage are pushing through the enemy lines and fighting with determination and stoic fortitude. These men doing serious damage to their enemies and doing a great deed for their country.
However on the next two lines, Tennyson quotes the price for this damage-
“Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.”
Tennyson makes it blatantly clear that the cost of this damage to the enemy and brave strike was the loss of these brave men’s lives. The change in the last line which has stayed the same for the past three stanzas pushes this loss of life home, as if shouting out to the reader- This was not with cost and a heavy price was set one this, many men lost their lives. You seem at this, to ask yourself the question- Was it worth it? This is a major similarity with both poems, both seem to bring to question the worth of human life, seeming to ask- Isn’t human life worth more than this?
“Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d
Storm’d at with shot and shell”
A repeat of the beginning of the third stanza, with one small difference, the light brigade are retreating from the battle field, still be shot at with “shot and shell” and still surrounded by cannons. This echo the same ideal as is put forth in “Dulce et decorum est” - So many men have died, but for what? – the cannons are still there firing at them and the enemy still hold their ground – What have these men died for?
“While horse and hero fell
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of death
Back from the mouth of Hell
All that was left of them
Left of the six hundred.”
Tennyson describes these men as hero’s and honours them for their bravery, not what they have accomplished. He honours the fact that these men were willing to give their lives for their country and fight to the last to uphold its ideals and serve it.
Tennyson describes the men as coming back through the jaws of death and back from the mouth of hell. You are given the impression of these few men escaping the impossible, the legions of hell behind them, a tragedy that many of their friends and companions lie dead behind them, only a mere wound to the enemies positions made by this charge, yet these men were willing to brave it all to serve their country.
The last two lines of this fifth stanza carry on from the end of the forth stanza, continuing on, contrasting with the end of the first three stanzas, showing the loss of life in this one battle, the amazing sacrifice of these men. Six hundred men had ridden into this “valley of death” and now but a fraction of that ride out, all but for a mans mistake
“When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the light brigade,
Noble Six hundred!”
The last stanza of the poem simply ends the poem with a commemoration for the light brigade. Driving home how honourable the men who rode in this charge were, and Tennyson fulfilling his duty as Poet Laureate and commemorating “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”
There are obvious similarities and differences in these Poems and in ideals of the poets who wrote them. Both poets seem to share the aversion to war, and the circumstances in which these men must die, both poets making comparisons of the battle scenes to that of hell in some way or another. Tennyson angry at the mistake made that cost so many of these men their lives and Owen similarly angry at the conditions these so called hero’s must sleep and live in while at war.
The reason for these obvious similarities is the
Owen writes about how little honour there is in the war, how little these men’s lives have meant, how these men are merely cannon fodder and there was little honour in their deaths. Tennyson writes about how the men should be honoured for their sacrifice, each man has given their life to do what they can in the war and has bravely fought to the last. I believe the reason for this quite significant difference is the periods the two poems were written in and the concepts of war of the two periods. Whereas in Tennyson’s period, men’s lives at least made some small impact on the enemies lines and made some small difference, Owens period brought the introduction of artillery and trench-warfare, with the likes of mustard and chlorine gas, where in this state of warfare, a man could quite easily make no difference. In the Crimean War men fought hand to hand and a man’s death was heroic, fighting to the last , yet in First World War a man was killed without a thought by bullet or by gas, without the chance to fight back or make a difference, far from the death of a hero.
I like the ideals and ideas of honour in “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, yet the harsh message put forward by “Dulce et Decorum est” brings me to believe that as time goes on the ideas of honour and bravery are being lost and men are being killed without thought with weapons that killed tens if not hundreds at a time. With all the talk of our now supposedly great civilizations, as time creeps on, one wonders if all mankind does is create more and more efficient ways of killing itself.