Compare and Contrast The Charge Of The Light Brigade with The Charge Of The Heavy Brigade Paying Particular Attention to the following

Adam Fisch 4C

Compare and Contrast The Charge Of The Light Brigade with The Charge Of The Heavy Brigade Paying Particular Attention to the following:

The similarities and differences in poetic structure and language,

The way in which Tennyson has used historical sources

And Tennyson’s portrayal of soldiers and generals at the time

The two poems that I am looking at are ‘the Charge of the Heavy the Brigade’ and ‘the Charge of the Light Brigade’. These two poems have been written by the same poet, Tennyson. Both of them were written shortly after battles fought consecutively in 1854 against the Russians. The poems are very specific, so much so that the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ has the date the battle took place as part of the title. The poem ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ also mentions the name of specific leaders such as Scarlett. Both poems refer to the number of men in each brigade, the figures 600 and 300 are exact estimates of the men that fought in each battle. However Tennyson has rounded the figures to the closest hundred, so that they are easier for the reader to remember.

The poems are similar in a few ways. When reading the poems the rhythm and the pace add to the sense of movement of horses, men throughout. For instance in both poems when the English are charging the pace accelerates and in ‘ the Charge of the Heavy Brigade’, when the English move up a hill to reach the Russian position, the length of the lines increase and so it takes longer to finish the stanza, thus giving the illusion that there is an actual hill. We are told that the soldiers should follow ‘up the hill, up the hill’ at the end of the first stanza and again repeated in the second. Similarly Tennyson also uses repition in the ‘charge of the Light Brigade’ in order to mimic various sounds, such as ‘the Charge of the Light Brigade’ where ‘cannon’ is repeated three times in the third and fifth stanzas. Through both poems there is not a distinct and constant rhyme scheme which allows Tennyson to manipulate the tone and pace of each poem and to create different atmospheres. In the second stanza of ‘the Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ the rhyme is completely different to that of the next stanza, which begins with a rhyming triplet. Despite the inconsistency of rhyme scheme, Tennyson uses rhyme in both poems in order to add emphasis to the movement of soldiers, who in the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ ‘drove through the midst of the foe’ and ‘rode flashing blow upon blow’, and in the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ ‘flashed all their sabres bare, flashed as they turned in the air’. Tennyson also uses alliteration to emphasise the battle in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ like ‘stormed at with shot and shell’.

The poet plays with sounds in both poems. In ‘ the Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ this is clearly seen by the dominating rhymes which change in each stanza. For example both poems make heavy use of assonance. In the first stanza of the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ the poet alternates between rhyming with the word ‘Brigade’ and the word ‘sky’. The rhyming scheme uses both short vowels to create sharp fast sounds such as ‘foe’ and ‘blow’ and uses long vowels to extend the sound making the movement of some lines slow and calm whilst intensifying meaning, such ...

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As well as there being similarities there are also differences in the two poems. The Charge of the Light Brigade is shorter and divided into six stanzas, each which are almost equal in length. The longest stanzas in ‘the Charge of the Light Brigade’ such as the fourth and fifth stanzas describe the actual battle itself whilst the shortest stanza appears at the end of the poem providing a short sharp finish. The Charge of the Heavy Brigade however has five stanzas, and the lengths of each are very varied, allowing for a greater range of pace and atmosphere. Tennyson very extensively describes the battle, particularly focusing on the fighting going on between the two sides. Tennyson emphasises the danger that the enemy presents in order to give the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ a greater sense of bravery as we are reminded of the Russians’ actions throughout the poem. However in ‘the Charge of the Light Brigade’ although the details or the battle are described in the longer stanzas, the description is slightly muted, as Tennyson does not seem willing to dwell on the tragedy of the battle. Although Tennyson doesn’t describe the battle in as much detail as in the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’, the imagery in the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ is very powerful as Tennyson personifies the dangers that face the 600 as they ride ‘into the Jaws of Death’ and ‘the mouth of Hell’. It is as if they are being swallowed by the enemy.

We notice that in the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ Tennyson does not specifically name the enemy as Russian. Instead it seems that Tennyson is suggesting the enemy is more the ‘someone’ who ‘blunder’d’. Throughout the ‘Charge of the heavy Brigade’ there is much emphasis on the individual Scarlett and Tennyson stresses that the 300 men in the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ are his men not any one else’s. It is specifically Scarlett who inspires ‘the gallant three hundred’ onward into battle and the fray. This is the opposite of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ as in the second stanza it implies that the soldiers went into battle against their own ‘reason’ as it is not ‘theirs’ to ‘make reply’. Instead the soldiers follow the orders and we are told that ‘boldly they rode and well’. In the sixth stanza when Tennyson asks the reader to ‘Honour the Light brigade’, it is to honour the ordinary men not the officer who made the order. The ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ has no hero as such but creates all the soldiers who died as equals, elevating them to the position of heroes by the end of the poem.

Despite mentioning the Russians in the fourth stanza of ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ we are left with the impression that the ‘Noble 600’ are in fact fighting against fate, and fighting against ‘Death’. In this poem, the tragic loss of lives are made more important and it would seem that Tennyson does this by showing that even though they might fight bravely they do not have a chance in the ‘valley of Death’. It is important that Tennyson personifies Death in the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ as we are told about death’s ‘Jaws’ and the ‘mouth of Hell’ there is a greater focus on this battle against ‘Death’ than there is on the Russian enemy. In the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ the main focus is on Scarlett himself, not his brigade of 300 men who fade into the background. They are anonymous compared to Scarlett who seems at moments to take on the Russians single-handedly, ‘he dashed up alone’. In verse one of the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ when Scarlett calls to his men they obey almost at once, whilst in the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ the person who blundered is not named, and the soldiers have only ‘to do and die’. Despite this tragedy we can see that the men of the light brigade are talked of highly by Tennyson throughout the poem.

The ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ is not an overly dramatic poem, unlike the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ where Tennyson exaggerates to dramatise the situation, describing soldiers ‘whirling their sabres in circles of light’. Tennyson uses phrases like ‘thousands of horsemen’ to make the men seem very brave to face a Russian army triple their own size and to emphasise their skills in battle. Unlike the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ we are continually reminded that the enemy is Russian as in three of the five stanzas the Russian army is specifically identified, ‘the Russian lances’, ‘the Russian crowd’ and later the ‘Russian hordes’. In the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ the ‘Cossack and Russian’ are only mentioned once in the fourth stanza. Tennyson inspires patriotism on the reader by means of almost ignoring any outside help the British army had. The fact that Scottish and Turkish men also made up significant parts of the army is overlooked almost entirely. They are only referred to in the third stanza as the ‘Brave Inniskillins and Greys’. Instead Scarlett goes into battle ‘like an Englishman there and then’. This emphasis on Scarlett’s British nationality would serve not only to inspire pride in the English reader but also to make them falsely think that it was entirely a British success. There are many subtle changes in Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ as the poet changes the type of similes used, from sounds of battle to phenomena’s of nature. In the third stanza the ‘cannonshot’ bursts ‘like a thunderbolt’ giving the impression that the enemy are powerful beings and almost inhuman, thus making the English Heavy Brigade seem even more brave. In both poems Tennyson manipulates language and word order to emphasise the changing pace of battle, in the 3rd and 4th stanzas in the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ begin at a much faster pace. The 4th stanza again uses nature to emphasise the power of the army ‘Ranged like a storm or stood like a rock, In the range of a stormy day’.

Whilst the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ celebrates the victory of Scarlett and his men, the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ is less elaborate with detail as it is more a poem of remembrance. Tennyson wants to inspire pride through his descriptive narrative in the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ and the poet is able to create suspense and heighten excitement by alternating the pace and the length of the lines. We notice in the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ the length of lines shorten significantly once the English begin to beat the Russians. The enemy are driven into ‘wild disarray’ and leave ‘over the brow and away’. Unlike the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ also uses longer lines to build tension towards the climax of the battle however we are never in doubt of the Heavy brigade’s success as by repeating the words ‘up the hill’ Tennyson implies that the English are winning ground. In the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ by repeating the words ‘valley of Death’ we are presented with a lasting image as Tennyson implies that there is no hope for the light brigade. Despite their bravery as the light brigade rides on ‘into the jaws of Death’ we feel as if they are trapped in a situation they cannot escape from.

The ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ relies on repetition and the equal lengths of lines which make the poem shorter and more to the point. In the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ Tennyson is able to create atmosphere by manipulating pace and sound. Whilst both poems deal with the subject of war they do so in very different ways and although the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ is a poem of celebration the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ is contained, precise and arguably more realistic as Tennyson reveals to us that they did not die by the hand of the enemy but that lives were lost through the mistake made by one person. The ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ leaves a greater impression on the reader and we are more likely to remember the 600 who died as they are immortalised by Tennyson’s words.