The charge of the Light Brigade of the light brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson is a more positive poem about the heroes of war and their bravery in the face of death. The poem describes the charge that the light brigade made at Balaclava against Russian forces.
Tennyson’s poem was written to commemorate the charge of the light brigade against Russian forces in the 19th century. The poem is written so that the rhythm sounds like the stampeding hoofs of the light brigade’s horses. Tennyson’s repetitive use of ‘Rode the six hundred’ emphasises the bravery of the light brigade as they stormed through the battle field.
In the second stanza Tennyson begins to rhyme words”…. Not to make reply, …. Reason why, …. Do and die.” Tennyson rhymes the endings of each line and then stops the rhyming for the rest of the stanza. Tennyson rhymes again in the third stanza only a different style. Tennyson’s rhymes the end of two lines skips a line the rhymes the end of that one e.g. “…. Shot and shell, …. Rode and well, …. Jaws of death, …. Mouthy of hell” Tennyson reverts to the original rhyming three lines in a row at the start of the 4th stanza. He then changes again to a different rhyming style in the forth stanza. “ …. Battery smoke, …. Broke, …. And Russian …. Sabre-stroke.” Tennyson switches rhyming style twice in the forth stanza. Tennyson changes rhyming style again in the fifth stanza but again choosing to rhyme the end of lines “ … shot and shell, …. Hero fell …. Thought so well, …. Jaws of death, …./ mouth of hell.” Tennyson only makes one more rhyming change. At the start and end of the sixth stanza he rhymes two consecutive line endings then he skips two lines and rhymes a second pair “…. Glory fade, …. The made, …. Wondered, …. The made, …. Light Brigade, …. 6 hundred.
Tennyson does not describe or name the ‘valley of death’ he simply refers to it as the ‘valley of death’ or the ‘mouth of hell.’ Tennyson is not very descriptive in his writing. He only makes one reference that lets us know who the light brigade are fighting ‘Cossack and Russian.’ Tennyson assumes that we know about the battle involving the Light Brigade.
Tennyson’s meaning behind the poem was to commemorate the bravery of the soldiers charging into battle. He is trying to portray how brave the soldiers were because even though they knew that they were riding to their own death they did it anyway without hesitation.
On contrast Owens poem is much sadder, depressing and shows the true horrors of war.
Owens writing style is much slower and has a different rhyme, and it isn’t an n instantly noticeable compared to Tennyson’s.
The rhyming scheme set out by Owen is the same throughout the poem. He uses an ABA scheme where the last word in every other line rhymes.
Owens’ writing is not to promote the heroics of war but to condemn war. Owen draws on personal experience in his poem compared to Tennyson who uses second hand experience from a newspaper report
Owen uses the image of ‘old beggars’ to represent how exhausted the soldiers are. Also the image of the soldiers ‘coughing like hags’ really makes us realise how exhausted the soldiers are. Again in Owens poem we are not given a location or a description of the scenery. In the poem Owen describes tired, exhausted soldiers being suddenly bombed and one of the soldiers being killed by the gas. Owens use of the Latin ‘Dulce et Decorum est et Decorum est pro Patria Mori’ at the end of the poem is Owens attempt at sarcasm, translated it means ‘it is a sweet and fitting thing to die for ones country.’ Owen does not really mean this he is drawing on his own experiences of war and being sarcastic. Owen uses similes and metaphors in his poem. The metaphors ‘obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud’ suggest that what he has witnessed was the vilest thing on earth. Owens poem is much more about the seriousness of war and how war is not heroic and glamorous but that it is cruel and heart breaking. Tennyson’s poem tries to display the heroes of war and their undying effort and bravery in the face of danger. Both poems show the brutality of wear and the meaningless death.