Tennyson chose to present the soldiers in this way because he wanted the soldiers to be honoured for their bravery in going to fight even though they knew “someone had blundered”. We are told that Tennyson wrote 'The Charge of the Light Brigade´ in a few minutes after reading the description in ‘The Times’ of the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Tennyson was a civilian poet and therefore didn’t actually experience war, which could be why Tennyson’s poem ‘ The Charge of the Light Brigade’ doesn’t connect with the soldiers on an emotional level. In contrast Wilfred Owen was a soldier in World War I and therefore experienced the horror of war. Wilfred Owen was killed in action a week before the war ended in 1918. Owen was against the propaganda and lies that were being told at the time that were glorifying war. This is why in his poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ he describes the scene of a trench filling with mustard gas and the misery caused in a dramatic and horrifying way.
Both poets create atmosphere in their poems. In Tennyson’s poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ the atmosphere is of celebration and of the bravery of the six hundred British soldiers who went into battle even though the commanding officers knew that they would be killed as ‘someone had blundered’. The Charge of the 'Light Brigade´ is written in dactylic feet (one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables) and this gives the reader a sense of the horses galloping along the battlefield. This is shown well in the line ‘Half a league, half a league’. The quote “horse and hero fell” heightens the status of the soldier to a hero however in contrast, in Owens poem “Dulce et Decorum est” the status of the soldiers is lowered by the quote ‘ bent double like old beggars’ which illustrates the poets different attitudes to war, Tennyson’s thought of war as a brave thing to do and Owens belief that it is not. Tennyson creates a dramatic impression of the bravery of the soldiers by using verbs of action such as “Flash'd “ and “Sabring”. The repetition of the word ‘flash’d’ emphasises light flashing on a sword, which brings strong visual images to the poem. He repeats the command “Forward the light brigade!” in stanza one and two. This fast pace sweeps the reader along as the command encourages the soldiers in the poem to carry on, without time to question the command, which later on proves to be a mistake as “someone had blundered”. Tennyson uses noble sounding metaphors and personification like 'the jaws of Death’ to describe the fate that awaits these men. The words ‘the jaws of death’ create an image of how the soldiers are riding to they’re death as they enter ‘the mouth of hell’, the quote also describes how in the same way that ‘the jaws of death’ can metaphorically be seen in the distance, the soldiers can see that they will not come out of the battle alive. Although Tennyson does not provide as detailed a description of the brutality of war as in Owens poem. Tennyson does create metaphors, which create images in the readers’ mind of the violent reality that awaits the soldiers.
In contrast to Owen Tennyson creates a feeling of excitement and of the dignity of war with his use of poetic strategy, such as repetition: “Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them”. This repetition simulates the panic that the soldiers are feeling when they realise that they are surrounded and the fast moving phrases represent the adrenalin of the soldiers, which passes on to the reader. Tennyson also uses alliteration “Stormed at with shot and shell” which creates another type of fast paced rhythm signifying how the soldiers were constantly shot at in the same way that the letter ‘s’ is repeated in the quote “stormed at with shot and shell”. Tennyson shows the reader the high standards of the soldiers and their unquestionable obedience for following orders even in the face of death: “Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die”. This line of the poem puts across Tennyson’s view of war being honourable and brave, Tennyson shows how even when the soldiers knew that they where going to die they were brave and followed their orders to go into battle. In the final stanza Tennyson creates a sense of the immortality of the soldiers´ bravery with a rhetorical question and commands: “when can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!” Again Tennyson uses this line of the poem to put his point of view across and to show the reader how brave the soldiers were and how he believes that going to war is a brave thing to do. The repetition of 'the six hundred´ at the end of each stanza reminds the reader of the loss of life, but at the end of the poem they have become the 'Noble six hundred´ and are celebrated as heroes. This shows how even though they died the soldiers are still heroes and that going to war was a heroic thing to do.
However in contrast Wilfred Owen tells the reader to be cynical about the enormous loss of life. The theme of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ is that war and dying for one's country is not glorious or heroic. This message is repeated throughout the poem from the first stanza to the last line. In the opening stanza the reader gets a very different image of the soldiers from what is would expected in the title. The title creates the image of soldiers as smart, proud, marching, and fighting. However Owens's poem and the pictures he creates are based on his personal experience of the battlefield. There is nothing attractive about Owens's soldiers he describes them as being “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”. Owen presents the reader with details of the men not really marching but “limping on” because they are so tired that they are like old women and beggars sliding through the mud. Owen’s “hags” are the opposite of Tennyson’s “Noble six hundred”. Owen’s picture is not glorious at all and the first line shocks the reader who imagines the men boldly charging forward to fight. Owen catches the mood of the scene very well. The first stanza is very slow and inactive and words like 'trudge´ and the rhythm of the first stanza captures the atmosphere of the scene and how the soldiers felt at the time. Owen uses similes to convey the horrific conditions of the soldiers. He describes them “like old beggars under sacks” and “coughing like hags”. The words “beggars” and “hags” suggest how the soldiers are ‘like’ them and how their situations are similar in the way in which neither are imagined to be dressed well or in a clean environment. The words “beggars” and “hags” also suggest how they are hunched over like hags or metaphorically begging for their lives in the way in which a beggar would beg for food or money. He continues this technique into stanza two when he describes the dying soldier “like a man in fire” which suggests the horror, pain and panic Owen witnessed as a soldier. Owen uses the word 'we´ when he's talking about the men's actions so the reader is reminded that he was there this makes the reader trust Owens version of what war was really like.
As opposed to the first stanza the second stanza is very active and frantic. The second stanza begins with short sharp staccato sounds, which are made by adding caesuras (a pause or break in the line) after the word “gas”. The line reads, “Gas! Gas! Quick boys” this quote uses alliteration and immediately grabs the readers’ attention, the alliteration also illustrates to the reader the fast panicky scene. This shows the unbearable “ecstasy of fumbling” that the soldiers went through knowing that they could be killed at any moment. At first the reader is relieved that the “clumsy helmets” have been fitted but then the reader realizes that someone hasn't got his on yet. A man is helplessly “stumbling and yelling out” and Owen can't save him. Owen’s poem shows that this is not a glorious death. By using vivid imagery Owen makes the reader feel his same feelings of horror and disgust at the sight of the soldier poisoned. Owen describes how the man still haunts him “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight” this describes to the reader how even many years on the nightmare of the war still remains with the few soldiers who didn’t die. The quote “he plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning” uses assonance which makes the individual words more powerful this again shows how the war still haunts the soldiers that where left alive. In Owen’s poem death is vividly presented as the opposite of glorious “the white eyes writhing in his face”. The word writhing illustrates how the soldiers face is twisting in pain this brings a strong image to the readers mind. Owen fills the poem with many ugly images “blood come gargling from froth corrupted lungs” to make the reader feel almost physically sick of war because of the unpleasant images brought upon them through Owens poem. The quote “blood come gargling from froth corrupted lungs” is a very visual quote it shows the affect that the gas had on the soldiers. The quote uses an onomatopoeia for the word “gargling” this gives the reader an even more dramatic impression of the soldiers suffering as the reader can almost hear the ‘gargling’. Owen uses this quote to show how; in his opinion war is not heroic or noble. Owen wants the reader to imagine that we are actually there on the battlefield so the reader gets an idea of what it was like. This poem is probably the closest we will get to the experience of the carnage and slaughter of war but Owen tells the reader that if we had then we would not try to glorify war any more.
In my opinion Tennyson wrote his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” simply because he wanted to honour the soldiers that died after reading a description of ‘the battle of balaclava’ in the times. However Tennyson never actually went to war so although his poem honours the soldiers Tennyson does not explain to the reader why the soldiers should be honoured and why in his opinion it was a good thing for them to go to war. In contrast Wilfred Owens poem is a much better description of what war is like. Owen wrote his poem “Dulce et Decorum est” because he didn’t want people to think that it was a noble thing to go to war because he knew what it was really like. I preferred Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” because it wasn’t so horrific or as visual as “Dulce et Decorum est”. Both poems made me feel sympathetic towards the soldiers but in different ways as “Charge of the Light Brigade” made me feel sympathetic towards the numbers of people that died whereas “Dulce et Decorum est” made me feel sympathetic because of the pain and fear that the soldiers went through. Both poems reflect the two different sides that the media show of war today. Newspapers often print stories about bravery in war but they also print stories about the tragedy of so many people dying for no reason. “Dulce et Decorum est” and “Charge of the Light Brigade” show us that even many years ago people where still torn as to whether going to war is a “sweet and proper thing to do” or whether it is a horrific and tragic thing to happen.
