“‘Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered:’
Tennyson uses a rhetorical question to put the reader into the mind of the soldiers, and to think about their feelings. The answer comes as a surprise when he says that they were not dismayed even though the solders knew that someone had blundered. This shows the soldier's bravery and sense of duty. By calling it a blunder Tennyson is underplaying the error. It is an example of use of litotes. Nowadays such a mistake would be referred to in more severe terms and scrutinised in minutest detail.
‘Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die.’
Here he emphasises their unquestioning sense of duty even if it means dying. The repetition of “theirs” creates an echo which he uses again as a literary device in the next stanza. This is the first stanza that has rhyming “reply, why and die” which gives the poem a momentum making it kinetic poetry and it gives us the feeling of the energy of the charge. Lord Tennyson ends the stanza with; ‘Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.’ This repetition in each stanza creates a sense of suspense for the reader as we begin to wonder of its importance.
‘Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them.
Volley’d and thunder’d;”
Tennyson uses the cacophony of this phrase to create the effect of the solders being surrounded by cannon fire . The deep vowel sounds create the feeling of explosions.
‘Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred
This sibilant ‘s’ sounds create a ‘ripping’ sound to mimic the shot ripping through the ranks of the light brigade. “ Boldly” tells us how Tennyson looks at he solders. The third line of the stanza ‘Into the jaws of Death,’ is borrowed from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ “I snatch'd one half out of the jaws of death.” Perhaps implying that one half of the Light Brigade will return, however Tennyson never tells the reader how many died or how many returned. This personification of death, giving it jaws builds the picture of a raging beast who is about to consume the Light Brigade. His repetition of ‘Rode the six hundred’ continues the theme set earlier.
‘Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,’
Again Tennyson uses assonance to create an impact, this time he uses the ‘sh’ sound in ‘flash’ to create the sounds and images of the Light Brigade unsheathing their swords and holding them shimmering in the air, before bringing them down on the Russian gunners. Every line in this quote rhymes.
‘Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:’
This break in the thick of the action allows the reader to think about the impact of this charge and concentrate on the soldiers bravery.
‘Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.’
The sibilant words produce the sound of swords slicing through bodies and serves to re-introduce the reader to the charge. Tennyson breaks his theme of repeating ‘Rode the six hundred’ at the end of each stanza to announce to us the loss of life in that that there are “no longer six hundred.” Now there is a change in the battle as the Light Brigade return to their camp, after recovering some cannons , but still
‘Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;’
This is copied from stanza 3; Tennyson reminds us that the Light Brigade are still surrounded by enemy cannon fire during their retreat. Tennyson uses the cacophony again to create the effect of cannon fire. The plosive vowel sounds also create the feeling of explosions.
‘Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.’
The sibilant words on the fist line remind the reader of stanza 3 where the Light Brigade are in an attacking position and now they are retreating. The lines here mirror those in stanza 3.
‘Storm'd at with shot and shell ‘Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well, While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Into the jaws of Death Came thro' the jaws of Death
Into the mouth of Hell, Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Rode the six hundred, Left of six hundred.
Tennyson uses this literary devise to answer and address each of the issues raised in stanza 3 by relating line by line and rhyme by rhyme.
‘When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!’
In this last stanza by using words like glory , honour and noble Tennyson tells us a lot about his attitude to war. By asking a rhetorical question When can their glory fade? he is subliminally telling us that the answer is “never” but outwardly and overtly he is telling us to “Honour the charge” and “Honour the Light Brigade”. Although in the previous stanza he says “what was left of the six hundred” in the last stanza he does not remorse over the lost ones but rather he says “ Noble Six Hundred”, preferring to remember them all as “noble and brave,” openly displaying his positive attitude to war.
Tennyson’s expression of the notion of 'honour' and 'glory' in war, is similar to that expressed by ‘The Volunteer’ by Herbert Asquith and ‘Ode, Written in the Beginning of the Year 1746’ by William Collins, however other pomes, such as ; 'The Hyaenas' , 'The Wound Dresser and 'Drummer Hodge' which are based on experiences in wars contradict this view and often ridicule it.
