“Honour the Light Brigade.”
Tennyson in the last stanza, tells us to honour them, to show our respects for their loss but to also praise their work, what they achieved in fighting, which in truth was nothing. The soldiers of the British Empire achieved little more than a painful death at the hands of the enemy artillery, being killed either by shell or under hoof of their steeds. But this was Tennyson’s support for the Empire, glorifying the deaths of these men in battle, which in the first place was suicide.
To look at this poem, and to look at a historical account of the Crimean war, would reveal a lot more details about the battle, if it may be called that. Tennyson doesn’t mention the details of the attack and retreat for one reason, he was ordered to create a poem, a piece of propaganda which would influence people, and lead them to follow the ideals of their country. This piece lies to the reader, and is completely juxtaposed to that of Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est”.
The poem itself is a well written and thought out piece; despite its origin it is a true piece of poetry workmanship. The writing techniques used by Tennyson are influential to this poem, Onomatopoeia, Forceful language, Rhythm, Repetition, Hyperbole, Collective pronouns and more.
Onomatopoeia is used by Tennyson to convey the ferocity of the battle:
“Volley’d and thunder’d,
Storm’d at with shot and shell.”
This in turn enhances the epitomising of the warriors, people read the poem, hear these words and imagine for themselves how dangerous and desperate their charge is, yet they cannot picture the true carnage, soldier and steed being flung left and right by explosions and gun fire, bodies flayed and mutilated by tearing explosions. This is the truth that the reader does not see, instead Tennyson creates a glorious charge, belittling the enemy’s firepower, and portraying a conquering force.
This is also partly backed up by the repetition used by Tennyson, for example in the first stanza, the opening lines are:
“Half a league, half a league
Half a league onward.”
This repetition reflects their charge, its also part of the rhythm in this poem, the galloping of the horses as they take their riders, to their unwary deaths. Tennyson is trying to pace this poem in a way the reader will recognise. Repetition is also used to show the law of the soldier, discipline above thought:
“Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die;”
A soldier is created, shaped and kilned. He is trained to follow orders, to never question his orders, never question the judgement of their superiors and to never run away from the enemy, because in most cases, cowardice was rewarded only by death. This is what Tennyson is saying, yet we know in truth these men were frightened, in their minds they were going through the battle plan briefed to them hours before, as they blindly charged into the abyss.
The language used by Tennyson, is forceful, his poem is a subtle way of forcing the reader to join the armed forces of the British Empire. They are coaxed and tempted. The reader is shown the glory of the Light Brigade, how they valiantly yet blindly charge into the enemy’s territory, and how each soldier who is killed in service, is ceremonially buried and remembered by the nation. This language is what makes Tennyson’s poem effective:
“Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d.”
“Boldly they rode and well.
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell”
These words and these visions of the battlefield are what coax those who read to consider the reasons for joining the Empires Armed Forces, Patriotism, Citizenship, Loyalty and Honour. These ideas are seeded in young minds, so that one day those seeds will flourish and the bearer will see that to fight for their country is to accept responsibility for its safety, to be honoured as a servant of their country, a defender, a noble and brave soul. But these are lies, they will not be seen as a brave noble or honourable person, they will simply be seen as just another man willing to give their life to their country, because it was something that everyone had to do at some point in their lives.
A main and final technique that Tennyson uses is Collective pronouns, another complete juxtaposition to Wilfred Owens poem and his use of Personal pronouns. Tennyson views the Brigade as one, a group of people with the same views, the same thoughts and the same lives. They all grew up the same, see the world the same and are all the same as they charge for the enemy, he does not show any unique or personal views on the event, simply because he is a voyeur, he was not there for the “wild charge they made” he sat in his mansion, pondering over his ideas for this poem, he has no accounts of what happened, because surely any who survived were too traumatised to talk. It is this which drags the poem down, makes it deceitful and untruthful.
“Cannon to the right of them”
“Right thro’ the line they broke”
“They that had thought so well”
This constant use of collective pronouns, the ”they” and “them” it is disrespectful to the soldier and shows no acknowledgement of free will or of mankind’s uniqueness.
There is a theme in this poem other than propaganda. This theme is the conflict between personal fulfilment and public responsibility. The soldiers are bound by duty and obligation to serve their country, they cannot question their orders and cannot choose not to participate in the battle. This conflict occurs in this poem, 600 hundred men are charging into the unknown, they don’t know the enemies numbers, firepower or strategy, they have a gut instinct to turn back and reassess the attack but to do so is to disobey orders and to discard their duties. This theme goes with that of the collective pronouns, human nature and choice, Tennyson says nothing of what each man may individually feel, he may not be able to include it but he neglects any mention of emotion or fear, because to include this would rob the poem of its propaganda capability. It would fail to inspire anyone to join the Armed Forces and thus interest in enrolment would drop significantly and Tennyson would be left with the blame.
In conclusion I believe that Tennyson greatly succeeds in creating a pro war ethos, all his ideas and contexts reinforce this ethos and make the poem a very effective piece of propaganda, although it is inspirational it is a malformation, the poem has one purpose and one alone, to encourage unsuspecting men to enrol in their countries army to die. This is not what poetry should be used for, Tennyson was under obligation, just like the soldiers of the light brigade to follow orders, but they like Tennyson could have fought for a just cause, Tennyson could have refused the request of the Queen and suffered the consequences and possibly saved the lives of hundreds of men. Just as the soldiers could have refused to follow orders and saved themselves from the massacre they were charging into.
