“Rode the six hundred,” is repeated at the end of the stanza to heighten the tension and sense of struggle. This repetition is used throughout the poem.
The start of the second stanza,
“Forward the light Brigade” uses direct speech once again to involve the audience. The poet’s question,
“Was there a man dismay’d” is a rhetorical question, questioning loyalty. This is example of patriotism, which is the theme of the poem. The reality was that the soldiers were probably hoping to stay alive. Arguably one of the most famous quotes in English literature are stated in the next three lines, “Their’s not to make reply, Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die”. This is the soldiers’ motto and gives us the idea of duty and loyalty. Once again, lines three and four of stanza one are repeated to heighten tension and excite the audience.
“Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them”, this tells us that no matter where the soldiers turned they were faced with guns and that the chances of over coming this battle were slim to none.
“Volley’d and thundered;” is the use of onomatopoeia and gives the audience sense of what is going on and what can be heard. The fifth line of the stanza uses another literary technique, alliteration.
“Storm’d at with shot and shell” uses alliteration on the ‘S’ so the audience can nearly hear the cannon balls going through the air. Once again their struggle is personified, this time as the “Jaws of Hell” and the stanza tails off with
“Rode the six hundred”.
In the first and second line of stanza four the word “Flash’d” is repeated to increase the speed of the poem. The poet writes the world’s interest into the battle as,
“All the world wonder’d”. The poet is writing it as if he is the world.
The poet then uses onomatopoeia with the word “plunged” in the line,
“Plunged in the battery smoke” so the reader can hear the sound of men jumping into war. Alliteration with
“Shater’d and sunder’d” giving the audience a clear picture of sword fights going on amongst the battle. This is a graphic description of swashbuckling rather than the realistic vision of blood drenched swords connecting with almighty clangs and the moans of men lamenting over lost limbs and screaming with pain. The rhythm then slows dramatically,
“Then they rode back, but not the six hundred”. This shows that there were casualties and deaths in the battle but gives us a vague number of losses. The poet however does not tell us if the brigade won or lost as to keep the theme of heroism and patriotism in the poem to the end.
“Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them, Volley’d and thundered; Storm’d at with shot and shell”, a repeat of the first five lines of stanza three the only difference being line three,
“Cannon behind them”. This is to indicate that the battle is over. In line six the soldiers are referred to as heroes,
“While horse and hero fell,” giving the audience a sense that the soldiers are no ordinary men anymore. It is also a clever way of covering the fact a lot of soldiers died.
The poet shows the soldiers got through the struggle with the lines,
“Came thro’ the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of Hell”.
The final stanza begins with another rhetorical, patriotic question,
“When will their glory fade?” He is of course telling us their glory will never fade but by putting this fact in a question form, it gives it more emphasis. The poet shows adoration for the soldiers by saying,
“O the wild charge they made!”
“Honour the charge they made, Honour the Light Brigade” the poet commands almost militarily, the audience to honour the brigade’s efforts. The poem ends with the line,
“Noble six hundred!” reinforcing the idea that the soldiers are no longer ordinary men and that dead or alive they are all heroes.
“Dulce et decorum est” was written by Wilfred Owen in the First World War. “Dulce et decorum est” is part of a Latin phrase, ““Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”. This is Latin for “it is good and honourable to die for one’s country”. This is a cynical statement as the poem clearly and bluntly sets war to be not the glorious duty as the recruiting posters said but a terrible bloody battle. “Dulce et decorum est” describes the bitterness of trench warfare and the horrors of gas attacks. The poem is set out in four sections; The horrible and disgusting conditions of war, a gas attack, the haunting effect on Owen and the ineffectiveness of war.
The poem starts with Owen's description of himself and fellow soldiers. He shocks the audience by phrases associated with the homeless,
“Bent double like old beggars” This is a startling contrast to Tennyson’s image of soldiers in bright uniforms galloping into war. Owen makes us aware of flares going off in the background and how it has a haunting effect on the soldiers as it could have easily have landed too close to them.
“Men marched sleeping, Many lost their boots” Owen tries to convey a sense of semi-consciousness as the men had walked without boots and were “Blind” and “deaf”. This is quite abnormal as the sound of bombs and guns and as Owen says,
“The hoots of gas shells” must have been oppressively loud. The men were probably too tired and used to war to be woken out of their trance by these sounds.
In the second section the men quickly snap out of their semi-conscience by the threat of gas bombs. We are given the image of men desperately trying to get their gas masks and the helmets on,
“An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets on just in time” as Owen puts it. We are then presented with the disturbing truth that one soldier was not quick enough and given a detailed description of his death. Owen uses the simile of drowning, the way the soldier flounders and,
“As under a green sea I saw him drowning”. He uses this simile as the gas did have a drowning effect; the gas literally ate up the lungs making the victim choke in the green gas. A far cry from Tennyson’s vague number of dead. This has an obvious effect on Owen. He describes the sight as,
“The white eyes writhing in his face like a devil sick of sin”. This is an unusual statement. How can some figure like the devil be sick of what he epitomizes? This is how gruesome the corpse looks.
Owen then turns his focus to the propagandists. He describes the suffering of the innocent soldiers as,
“Incurable sores on innocent tongues”. He then lets the propagandists know that they would print posters telling young men hungry for war that it is good and honourable to die for their country if they saw the what he had experienced with the conclusion of,
“My friend you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory
The old lie, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
The theme of was has always been controversial and arguments for and against have been well documented, often in the form of poetry. Many Poets have written war as glorious battle while others show a more dark side to it. While Tennyson’s talks of honour and heroism, Owen tells us not to be fooled and gives us the gory details of war. Owen had experienced it and sadly, soon after the poem was written, died from war. He had felt the effects first hand while Tennyson had read about it in a newspaper. It is obvious that Owen’s tragic tale is the more realistic as it was a primary source and because of the great detail he went into.
James A. Murphy 11E
