Shashank Joshi
Consider Charge of the Light Brigade and Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington as poetry written for public occasions
Both poems were written by Tennyson in response to events that affected the Victorian era, but more importantly, they were clearly aimed at a Victorian audience and as a result by looking at the views expressed we can understand Victorian attitudes. In contrast to in memoriam and Tithonus, for example, both poems show restrained, formal language with less pastoral imagery. In addition, these poems are both post-in memoriam and as such show Tennyson having reconciled his heart and mind: this emotional composure is reflected in the forceful images (that have little ambiguity unlike the fluctuating ideas of his elegy) and although the poems are for the public, their style has definitely been affected by earlier poems.
Charge of the Light Brigade uses a dactylic meter, which creates a slightly unnatural falling rhythm used to mirror the charge of the horses. The regularly structured eight-line stanzas and this rhythmical meter seems to give the poem a degree of cohesion but if we look more closely the seemingly random rhyme scheme and the unsettled patterns of syllables capture the chaotic nature of the cavalry and undermine the sense of pomp and order shown on the outside. However this is not to say that the poem is satirical in nature, since the discord within the charging infantry is accepted as part of one’s duty. Without a hint of cynicism that saturated the World War poets (the cynicism and underlying disgust exemplified in Dulce et Decorum Est), the Victorian focus on duty and honour is reflected in the poetry’s ordered appearance and the refusal to acknowledge the true horror of the charge. Describing the onslaught, Tennyson writes, “Storm’d at with shot and shell,/ While horse and hero fell,/ They that had fought so well/ Came thro’ the jaws of death,/ Back from the mouth of hell.” The onomatopoeic words, alliteration and rhyming triplet emphasise the dynamic atmosphere but at the same time sanitise the incident by focusing not on the violence itself but on the positive aspects of the conflict. The cavalry were “hero[s]” and they “fought so well” instead of being among the hundreds who died.
