Compare and Contrast 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Lord Tennyson with 'Exposure' by Wilfred Owen.

Authors Avatar

Suzi Bowen

Compare and Contrast ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’

by Lord Tennyson with ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen.

        These two war poems, although written about the same subject, are very different. The Charge of the Light Brigade is about honouring the brave soldiers that were brave enough to go to war, whereas Exposure almost tells the story of these soldiers that went to war, right through from marching to the battle to the burial of those soldiers that died.

The first comparison to be made between the two poems, is that they both tell a story-although in different ways. The Charge of the Light Brigade tells a story by following a group of soldiers as they go to battle, and finishing each verse with a short summary of how they are doing (‘the six hundred’), starting from them marching to battle, and ending with the few that survived being praised for their bravery.

Join now!

“Into the valley of death

Rode the six hundred”

“Then the rode back, but not

Not the six hundred”

“All that was left of them

Left of six hundred” etc.

         Likewise, exposure also tells a story, although this time, instead of having it told from an outsider’s point of view, it’s told from a soldier’s perspective of how they march to battle, to how the soldiers that died are having a burial service.

The next similarity ties in with the last; the last line or couple of lines from each verse in each poem are significant. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay