A Comparison of Poems The Charge of the light brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron, The Drum by Lord John Scott.

Authors Avatar

A Comparison of Poems The Charge of the light brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The destruction of Sennacherib” by Lord Byron, The Drum by Lord John Scott.

“The Charge of the Light Brigade” was written before the 19th century and gave the poets view of war. Sometimes the poets have slightly different opinions but overall they are quite similar. The poem “The Charge of the light brigade” was written to memorialize a suicidal charge by light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Crimean War. The War was also significant as an early example of work of modern war correspondents.

        This poem is very effective. It engages you in the first with and opening:

Half a league, half a league,

 Half a league onward,”

This reflects the galloping of horses at battle and creates an insistent rhythm. At the end of every verse there is the repetition of one sentence “rode the six hundred”. It uses direct speech from the commander

‘“Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns” He said’

In the second verse he uses the phrase “Someone had blundered”. It shows the brave soldiers, who follow orders, charge the guns knowing that someone has made a mistake; the poem blames the officers and not the soldiers. The poem has to honour them because he is the Poet Laureate, but he doesn’t honour the men who gave the orders. The soldiers bravely followed orders without question.

“Theirs not to make a reply,

Theirs not to reason why,”

The third verse also uses repetition.

Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,

Cannon in front of them

The repetition is used because it stresses how vulnerable the men are to the Russians. They were surrounded in a “valley of death” with the guns of the enemy surrounding them. Onomatopoeic words like “Volleyed” and “Thundered” are used. “Stormed” is used which creates imagery of the violence of the on slaught. The poet also shows how he admires the bravery of the soldiers in this verse by saying:

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the Jaws of death,

Join now!

Into the mouth of hell

This suggests that they are to be swallowed up by death or hell which is a very successful metaphor. It suggests the men are literally to be swallowed by “Death and Hell”, which is a good use of personification.

        In the fourth verse, it is described how the light brigade had swords against guns and how they brandished their swords in the air and how even amazingly some men had some success. He also uses repetition with the word “Flashed”. This is at the start to the verse which engages you straight away.

Flashed all ...

This is a preview of the whole essay