The second stanza starts with a positive line “Forward, the light Brigade.” Tennyson sets this out with a soldier shouting it, to emphasise to the reader that they had hope about the mission. Then he asks a rhetorical question “Was there a man dismayed?” He makes this rhetorical by answering the question instantly with “Not though the soldiers knew.” In my opinion he answers it that quickly to prevent the reader thinking about the line. I believe he uses the next line as a double meaning. In one way he uses it as a question “Not though the soldiers knew some one had blundered” and on the other hand he is stating that “some one had blundered.” In my opinion he wrote it like this to voice his opinion about someone making a mistake, but not to come under scrutiny from the leaders of the army, the families and the Royal Family.
He then writes the orders of the men “Theirs not to make reply” “not to reason why” and “ theirs but to do and die.” These few lines show the soldier’s tenacity and their never faulting, never-ending strive for success and power even though they were riding into near certain death.
Tennyson then uses the metaphor “Into the valley of death” again, and he writes “Death” as a proper noun to emphasise the importance of it. He starts the third stanza, by setting a new scene. What the men are confronted with
“Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them.” And to emphasise the cannon he uses a lot of sound imagery using words like “volleyed and thundered” and “shot and shell.” But still with all this raining down on the “light brigade” Tennyson doesn’t let the reader know that they are in trouble, by using lines like “boldly they rode and well.” He then uses the metaphor “into the jaws of death” again, but this time he adds “into the mouth of hell” which symbolises to me that the poet is at last letting on that most of the “light brigade” will not live though this attack.
Stanza four is the battle he starts with “flashed all there sabres bare” which symbolises to me that they took there sabres out of there scabbard. And then “flashed as they turned in air” which in my opinion this is when they start fighting and their swords are reflecting the light when they are swinging them. And “sabring the gunners there” represents stabbing the gunners.
The next line “Charging an army, while All the world wondered” is in my opinion a double meaning, in one way he is saying the world is wondering if they will actually win the battle, but at the same time saying the world is wondering if they will survive. Then he uses use’s more sound imagery with “shattered and shuddered” which symbolises to me the soldiers injured and bleeding. Then he says, “Then they rode back, but not, Not the six hundred” which shows that at last Tennyson tells that not all six hundred came back.
Then the start of stanza five is setting the scene as they are retreating “Cannon to the left of them, cannon to the right of them, cannon behind them” and he uses the sound imagery with “Volleyed and thundered.” He then writes “stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell” which represents to me that he is using alliteration to display that every man who attacked is a hero. But then says “they that had fought so well came though the jaws of death, back from the mouth of hell.” Which represents to me he is saying that only the soldiers who fought well survived the battle, and also saying that they were eaten up by the mouth of hell and spat out, and that this metaphor conjures up a image of the men being cannon fodder.
Then stanza six in my opinion he asks an unanswerable question “when can there glory fade?” because in my opinion people who are prepared to make the highest sacrifice, and give there lives for there country. Their glory could never and will never end.
