The Charge Of The Light Brigade and Dulce Et Decorum Est

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War Poetry

This essay is about two war poems. The Charge Of  The Light Brigade and Dulce Et Decorum Est. The first poem is set during the Crimean war, and the second is set during world war one.  I will explore the portrayal of war from both these poems in detail, and I will expose the differences.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade is set in the 1850s. War was fought on horseback with rifles and sabres in that time period.  It tells the story of a brigade of soldiers who rode on horseback into the valley of death, obeying a command to charge on an enemy that had been stealing their guns. When the 600 arrived in the valley they rushed toward the enemy and well over 100 died within a few minutes. There had been a terrible mistake (someone had blundered) and they had charged in the wrong direction.

             The attitude towards war at the time of writing (1854) was unrealistic.  They glorified war and made it sound romantic. The soldiers didn’t think about war they thought it was their duty, - Theirs is not to reason why theirs is but to do and die.  Tennyson’s role is really just to document events; we will see later what Wilfred Owen has to say.  These attitudes are false, because when the survivors got home they were jobless and some even homeless, hardly a heroes welcome.

              The myth of war is very clear in The Charge Of The Light Brigade. It mentions that they are dying and manages to make it sound patriotic - while horse and hero fell.  It draws attention to what a glorious war they had where so many had been killed - All that was left of them, left of the 600, when can their glory fade?  It makes war sound exciting and thrilling, they were dicing with death - Boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of death, into the valley of hell.  The poem brands war as a great honour- honour the light brigade. The soldiers sound like untouchable heroes - the noble 600.  Tennyson followed the myth to a tee. He made it patriotic, honourable and inspiring. He had to keep it this way so it would encourage people to join.

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                 However the realities were much more daunting.  The poem clearly shows death: All in the valley of death and Theirs is but to do and die and, Into the jaws of death and all that was left of them.  But it fails to describe the amount of destruction and horror that goes on. I couldn’t find one sentence in Tennyson’s poem that described (in graphic detail) the type of horror the poor soldiers went through.

                 The language of Tennyson’s poem is very solemn.  It is ...

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