hear about soldiers being dug up, in a ugly state and eaten.
Kipling wrote the poem in the 19th Century, however, in the poem Kipling says
“But a poor dead soldier of the King”. This is not necessarily true as at the time of the
Boer War, Britain had a queen and not a king. This shows it was past the Victorian
period, when Queen Victoria died.
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is set in the past and focuses more on the battle
itself rather than the aftermath. On the other hand ‘The hyenas’ is set on the aftermath
and how scavengers are picking out and digging up the dead of the battle.
‘The charge of the light brigade’ is not only an anti-war poem but also a political
one. Lord Alfred Tennyson does not talk about the aftermath of the battle but
emphasises on the soldiers being misled by the officer, “Someone had blunder’d”.
This shows how Tennyson thinks the army and government are incompetent.
Tennyson has used the word ‘someone’. This means he has not directed it at a
specific person but something in general. In this case it is the government and army
who he has directed the blame at.
Tennyson praises the charge: “When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they
made!” but also mourns the decision of the officer who called the charge, “Not tho’
the soldier knew, someone had blunder’d”…“Charging an army, while all the world
wonder’d”. This makes the battle seem overall pointless and the lives of the brave
men that died rest upon the officers shoulders, which creates irony with the nobility of
all the soldiers being un-rewarded because of one man.
On the other hand, Kipling questions the nobility of all the soldiers. He is angered
at the way in which members of the same species can brutally kill each other. “Nor do
they defile the dead man’s name – that is reserved for his kind.” This verse shows that
Kipling believes human beings should be ashamed of killing each other and it is their
fault they have dishonoured the dead man’s name.
Tennyson shows the stages of battle by slightly changing the repeated words. As
they first charge, they have a “…cannon in front of them” but in a later stanza he
writes, “…cannon behind them”. This shows they have reached the cannons and are
now retreating. Also, referring to the cannons and the end of the valley as “The mouth
of Hell” he writes “Back from the mouth of Hell” to show that the soldiers are now
retreating from the cannons. Another example of repetition is at the beginning of
certain lines the same word is repeated as in the line before. Such as “Theirs…Theirs”
and “Flash’d…Flash’d”. Again the same repetition happens at the end line of every
stanza. “Rode the six hundred…Rode the six hundred”. This emphasises the number
of men lost in the battle and the number of noble men who were misled by their
officer. This is shown in the fifth stanza in which the two ending lines, “Then they
rode back, but not, Not the six hundred” show that many men have lost their lives in
this battle.
In addition ‘The Hyenas’ has also some repetition, but not as much. In the second
stanza Kipling has repeated the word ‘died’; “How he died and why he died”. This
emphasises the word death and that the war has killed so many.
In ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, there is a rhyme scheme with three lines in
each stanza rhyming together. There is another rhythm, continuing throughout the
story; hoof beats of the horses in battle are heard with a series of words as the poem is
read. This makes an impact on the tone of the story, as now the reader can hear the
sounds of the battlefield.
These sounds are made by the amount of syllables in each line. They are always
around 6 syllables and certain lines are the same such as; “Rode the six hundred” and
“Volley’d and thunder’d”. A horse galloping is the rhythm that the poem follows and
this gives the reader a sense of reality within the poem and the fear of war.
Another sound Lord Alfred Tennyson uses is swords or bullets flying past you by
using a lots of words with a hissing sound. This device is called sibilance and is the
repetition of a hissing sound. “Stormed at with shot and shell” is a great example of
this and gives the reader another sense of being closer to the battle.
On the other hand Kipling uses imagery to the same effect. He uses strong word
such as ‘death’ and “the dead are safer meat”. This brings images of the aftermath of
the battle into the readers head.
Tennyson seems distressed, angry and passionate about the events at the battle and
sympathises with the soldiers: “Boldly they rode and well” and especially when the
officers orders them wrongly: “Their’s not to make reply, their’s not to reason why,
their’s but to do and die.” This make the reader also feel sympathetic and saddened
that such noble men were led to their death.
“Mouth of death, Jaws of death, Valley of death and Mouth of Hell” are all
repeated in the poem, which shows repetition but they are all related to death. This,
once again, adds to the tone of war. They are also all personifications, which is one of
the many literary devices used in this poem. Personifications in this poem are used to
give things in the battle, human qualities, such as: ”Mouth of hell…Jaws of Death”.
Tennyson uses punctuation to great extent, with words being shortened with
apostrophes, exclamation and question marks also being used. These apostrophes are
put in place of the ‘e’ in certain verbs: “Wonder’d…storm’d…thunder’d” and also
“thro’…tho’”. This is called elision and it is used to get the attention of the reader and
to shorten the words. This makes the line shorter, so as the soldiers are charging, it
quickens the pace. The poem also has commands shouted to the soldiers as they are
charging into battle: “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns! He said…”
This changes the volume of the poem, as the opening four lines are gentle and soft.
This brings the battle to life, gets the reader interested and excited.
Kipling also uses devices such as oxymorons, “the wise hyenas”. Hyenas are
usually known for their stupid-ness and the poet uses this to give them authority over
the dead. He also uses onomatopoeias such as “whoop and halloo” to give the empty
battle land a sense that there is life, or death. ‘The Hyenas’ is a didactic poem, a poem
that states a message and he also uses enjambment, continuing the a sentence beyond
the end of a line of stanza; “The wise hyenas come out at eve, to take account of our
dead”. This gives the poem another edge to it. Also the poet says “our dead”. This
means he is related to the dead in some shape or form, whether it be country or son.
This would give the poet a biased side and he would feel less angered if it was a
foreign country’s soldiers. Kipling emphasises on making the reader feel disgust, and
ashamed of being around the dead. He also uses continuity, making you feel like the
soldier, never giving up.
In ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, after the fury of the charge towards the
cannons, the final words are gentle and make you reflect on the scenes beforehand:
”Then they rode back, but not, Not the six hundred”. This has an impact on the reader
as now he reflects on the battle and is grateful to those who have lost their lives for
their country. The reader is also surprised at the bravery of the soldiers, even though
they knew they would probably die. They knew it was the wrong decision, but they
just kept riding and did not question the officer’s decision. “Theirs not to make reply,
theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die”. This shows how brave and loyal
the soldiers were, not to disobey the officer, even though they knew it was wrong.
In conclusion the poets convey their attitudes towards war in different ways.
Tennyson’s main approach was to use many devices such as clusters of three and
personification to give the reader an idea of how bad war was. Kipling, however, uses
imagery to shame the reader, how they can fight and kill against their own species.
They both successfully use these devices and their poems have become famous and
well-known throughout the years. Both poets have an impact on the reader. This is the
main objective of an anti-war poem, which are designed to make the reader turn
against war.
Word Count = 1814
