In stanza 3 it says that they cannot escape as they are surrounded,
“Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them,” (Stanza 3 lines 1-3)
Nevertheless they are not scared and ride boldly into the enemies,
“Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell,” (stanza 3 lines 6-9)
Stanza 4 is where the fight starts. Tennyson uses much onomatopoeia to describe the fight scene,
“Flash’d all their sabres bare” (stanza 4 line 1)
“Shatter’d and sunder’d” (stanza 4 line 10)
At the end of the stanza the brigade breakthrough and ride back but the mood changes as the last line says,
“Not the six hundred” (stanza 4 line 12)
In stanza 5 all the cannons fire, many of the soldiers die,
“While horse and hero fell” (Stanza 5 line 6)
Now they come back “back from the mouth of hell” (stanza 5 line 9) but only what is left of the six hundred,
“All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.” (Stanza 5 line 9-10)
Stanza 6 is Tennyson’s view of the incident. In this stanza he mentions the word “honour” many times because that is what they deserve. Tennyson also repeats “the six hundred” many times in the poem. This can have an effect of making the reader remember these words as definite and most important.
The story of 'The Lady of Shalott' compares much with the story of ‘Mariana’. In 'The Lady of Shalott' the lady is trapped in a tower and is waiting for someone to save her and in 'Mariana' the lady is trapped in a house all alone and is waiting for her love to return. There is also a difference between both these poems. In 'The Lady of Shalott' the lady isn’t the only character in the poem, there’s Sir Lancelot and the village people however in 'Mariana' she is the only person in the poem and the story is all about her. In 'Mariana' there is a comparison between Mariana’s mind and what is happening around her. Firstly everything around her is falling apart,
“The rusted nails fell from the knots” (stanza 1 line 3)
This compares to how Mariana is emotionally and mentally falling apart. Secondly Mariana is very sad, this compares to a line in the first stanza,
“The broken shed’s look’d sad and strange” (stanza 1 line 5)
There is also a similarity between all three poems. In the 3 poems there is a theme of death. In 'The Lady of Shalott' the lady dies after breaking the curse. In 'Mariana' the lady wishes to be dead and in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' the brigade enter “the valley of death” and die. There is also a contrast between 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' and ‘Mariana’,'The Lady of Shalott’. The contrast is the length of each line. 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' has short lines with short syllables. This is maybe done to quicken the pace of the poem. However 'Mariana' and 'The Lady of Shalott' have long lines with long syllables. This is maybe done to slower the pace of the poem as the poems are of a tragic tale.
In 'The Lady of Shalott' the moods and atmospheres are mainly mystery, sadness and longing (melancholy.) In between these moods we get two dramatic contrasts. Sir Lancelot rides by and sings a song,
“Tirra lirra,’ by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.” (Part 3 Stanza 4 line 8-9)
And she breaks the curse,
“The curse is upon me,’” (part 3 stanza 5 line 8)
Also the storm is an example of her breaking the curse.
In 'Mariana' there are many words in the poem that contribute to the mood of the poem,
“Sad”, “rusted”, “broken”, “strange”
All of which are in stanza 1. Also in-between this mood there is a contrast. Sparrows chirruping, little creatures being lively and happy contrasts with what is really happening,
“The sparrows chirrup on the roof” (stanza 7 line 1)
Tennyson creates this contrast by first talking about all the sadness in Mariana’s life during the early stanzas then later on he mentions all the liveliness and happiness of the creatures whilst still mentioning the sadness.
In 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' the contrast is the entire brigade make a stupid mistake and they are still honoured for it,
“Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred” (stanza 3 line 8-9)
“Honour the charge they made!
Honour the light brigade” (Stanza 6 line 4-5)
Tennyson builds up to the contrast by first leading up to the fight. Then he mentions that the charge was a mistake but they can not escape as they are surrounded. Tennyson then builds up the tension by doing a battle scene but the brigade fail in the mission and many of them die. In the sixth stanza Tennyson honours the brigade even if they died pathetically.
In 'The Lady of Shalott' Tennyson uses many figures of speech, such as imagery repetition, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphor and simile. An example for imagery is,
“Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.”(Part 3 stanza 3 line 8-9)
This imagery shows us that Sir Lancelot moved across Shalott like a bearded meteor. This makes us think he is moving at speed.
An example of repetition is,
“The helmet and the helmet feather” (part 3 stanza 3 line 3)
“Four grey walls and four grey towers” (Part 1 stanza 2 line 6)
The effect of this repetition is that the pace of the sentence starts to quicken as we already know the word that is to follow. The word ‘Shalott’ and ‘Camelot’ are also regularly mentioned throughout the poem. The effect of these repeated words on us is like a magic spell as in magic spells words are usually repeated over and over again.
An example of personification is,
“The broad stream in his banks complaining.” (Part 4 stanza 1 line 3)
Tennyson brings the broad stream to life by giving them emotions and feelings with which they are complaining with.
This poem also consists of much alliteration,
“Bridle bells” (part 3 stanza 2 line 4)
“Blazon’d baldric” (part 3 stanza 2 line 6)
An example of onomatopoeia in the poem can be seen in part 3 when Sir Lancelot arrives,
“He flash’d into the crystal mirror, Tirra lirra by the river” (part 3 stanza 4 line 7-8)
Here we can see 2 examples of onomatopoeia in one stanza, “flash’d” and “Tirra lirra”
There are also many metaphors in the poem, one which is not clearly shown.
“Some bearded meteor, trailing light,” (part 3 stanza 3 line 8)
This is a metaphor as Tennyson is saying Sir Lancelot is a bearded meteor moving over Shalott. The second metaphor we will be looking at is the storm mentioned at the start of part 4. This storm is the theme of the ladies curse broken and the mood in which she is in. Now we will move onto the last style which Tennyson used in his poem. An example of simile can be seen in part 3,
“The helmet and the helmet-feather burn’2 like one burning flame together” (part 3 stanza 3 line 3-4)
The simile says the feather of Sir Lancelot’s helmet burned like a flame as the sun catches them.
Now we will be looking at the style of Mariana. Throughout the poem there are many examples which show use of imagery.
“When the thickest dark did trance the sky” (Stanza 2 line 6)
“The rusted nails fell from the knots” (Stanza 1 line 3)
These are uses of imagery as it makes the audience imagine what is happening. The use of repetition can be clearly seen at the end of every stanza on the 11th line,
“aweary, aweary”
Also “I would that I were dead” is said at the end of every stanza from 1-6. The effect of this repetition is that we start to feel sorry for her as she always says that she wants to be dead.
An example of personification can be seen in stanza 1 line 5,
“The broken sheds look’d sad and strange” (stanza 1 line 5)
This is personification as Tennyson brings a shed to life by giving it feelings.
There are also many alliterations in Mariana and can be noticed throughout the poem,
“Wooing winds” (stanza 7 line 3)
“Clinking latch” (stanza 1 line 6)
“Casement curtains” (stanza 2 line 7)
As well as alliterations there is also much onomatopoeia in the poem,
“Ticking” (stanza 7 line 2)
“Creak’d” (stanza 6 line 2)
“Shriek’d” (stanza 6 line 4)
An example of metaphor is actually the atmosphere around Mariana. Everything around her is falling apart,
“The rusted nails fell from the knots” (stanza 1 line 3)
This is a symbol of everything rooting as well as her mind. The final style used in his poetry is simile. There isn’t an actual simile in the poem but one can be seen as a theme. This theme is that although time changes through the poem nothing actually changes for Mariana.
Now we will move on to 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. An example of imagery can be seen in stanza 5,
“Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon behind them” (stanza 5 line 1-2-3)
This makes the audience imagine all the cannons which surrounded the light brigade. He also uses repletion in this sentence which can have an effect of quickening the pace or it may make the reader emphasise the word ‘cannon’
An example of repetition can see at the end of each stanza from 1-5,
“Six hundred”
This word is repeated many times to show they are a definite Six hundred. Also “valley of death” is repeated twice in stanza 1 lines 3 and 7. Tennyson also used personification in his poetry to make the reader imagine more about what is happening,
“Jaws of death” (stanza 5 line 8) “Mouth of hell” (stanza 5 line 9)
These are uses of personification as Tennyson brings hell and death alive by giving each a jaw and mouth. Tennyson has also used alliteration in many parts of his poem,
“Storm’d at with shot and shell” (stanza 5 line 5)
“All the world wonder’d” (stanza 6 line 3)
Tennyson has also used onomatopoeia to liven up the battle scenes,
“Flash’d all their sabres bare, Flash’d as they turned in air” (stanza 4 line 1-2)
A use of metaphor can also be seen throughout the poem. It is repeated many times in the poem,
“Into the valley of Death” (stanza 1 line 7)
“Into the mouth of Hell” (stanza 3 line 8)
These are metaphors as Tennyson says the brigade actually entered into the valley of death and the mouth of hell (he is saying hell has a mouth.) this is also a style of personification as Tennyson brings both hell and death alive. The final style is simile. Tennyson has not used a simile in this poem. One reason for this could be that Tennyson does not want to compare the six hundred with anything else out of respect and wants to show the people just as they were.
Now we will be looking at the structure of each of the poems. Firstly we will be looking at 'The Lady of Shalott'. This poem has a rhyming scheme of
A A A A B C C C B
This rhyming scheme applies to every verse in the poem. The line lengths are long this is a comparison with 'Mariana' as that also has long line lengths. The rhythm is that they have 8 syllables to a line usually but there are some exceptions. The 5th and 9th line have same rhyme. In 'Mariana' there are 7 stanzas. It has a rhyme scheme of
A B A B C D D C E F E F
This is a regular and very tight rhyme scheme. This is a comparison with the rhyme scheme of “A farewell” as this poem also has a regular rhyme scheme of
A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B
This poem has long line lengths to slower the pace of the poem and as I mentioned before this is a comparison with 'The Lady of Shalott'. The effect of this is that it’ll slower the pace of the poem to suit the genre which is tragedy. The stanzas have a rhythm of (also called a metre of a poem)
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 6 8 6
Tennyson tries to get the same pattern in the other stanza. Now we will be looking at 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. This poem rhyming scheme changes in each stanza. There is no definite rhyming scheme that stays throughout the poem. One reason for this could be that the stanzas are of different lengths however there is a rhyming scheme which is applicable to all the other stanzas.
A A A B C D D E D C F C
The line lengths are short as Tennyson wants to quicken the pace. This contrasts with both 'The Lady of Shalott' and 'Mariana' as they have long line lengths. The rhythm of the poem is usually
6 6 6 5 6 6 6 7 5
Tennyson tries to get the same rhyming scheme in each stanza. The lines which rhyme sometimes have the same syllables.
In conclusion I will say that Tennyson uses a variety of poetic skills. He uses skills such as description, use of mood and atmosphere. His word, the structure of the poem (stanzas, rhythm, rhyme scheme) and style (repetition, imagery, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphor, contrast, and simile) also he uses narrative skills which make the poem have a significant story. Overall there are many comparisons and contrasts between all the poems. One comparison is the theme in all the poems. All three poems have a theme of death, in 'The Lady of Shalott' the lady dies after breaking the curse. In 'Mariana' the lady wishes to be dead and in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' the brigade enter “the valley of death” and die. Also the story of ‘Mariana’ compares much with 'The Lady of Shalott’. In 'The Lady of Shalott' the lady is trapped in a tower and is waiting for someone to save her and in 'Mariana' the lady is trapped in a house all alone and is waiting for her love to return. The contrast is the pace of the poems. 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' has a fast pace. Tennyson does this by making the lines short with short syllables. However 'Mariana' and 'The Lady of Shalott' have a slow pace. This is done by Tennyson using long syllables and more words in each line. This is done to suit the genre of each poem and Tennyson does this very well.