A Comparison between Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen and Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson

In first two lines of the opening stanza the words 'Half a league' are repeated three times. This is trying that it wasn't a long distance that the Light Brigade had to ride but they were desperate to get there.

The following line 'all in the valley of death rode the six hundred' means that when British go into this valley they usually get killed by the Russians.

The second stanza begins with the words 'Forward the Light Brigade,

Was there a man dismayed?'

This is implying that the Light Brigade is about to begin their charge. At this point the poem gathers pace and the poem picks up a rhythm that has a likeness to horses galloping.

'Not though the soldiers knew

Some one had blundered,

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die,' These are the next words and they mean that the Light Brigade know they has been a mistake but, like any other good British soldier would they do not ask questions they just ride to their deaths.

Stanza three begins with the lines

'Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,

Cannon in front of them,' This is telling us that the Light Brigade is surrounded by cannons as they ride through the valley.

The next two lines are

'Volleyed and thundered,

Stormed with shot and shell,' these words mean that as the Light Brigade was charging down the valley they were getting pummelled by the Russian guns.

The words in the third stanza ' Jaws of death' and 'mouth of hell' are personification because death does not have jaws and hell does not have a mouth so this is giving animalistic qualities to an inanimate expression.

The forth stanza tells of the events when the Light Brigade reach the Russian lines.

They begin to attack the Russian lines we are told this in the lines ' Sabring the gunners there.'

In this attack some of the men are killed we are told this in the final line of this stanza

'They rode back,

But not the six hundred.'

The retreat of the Light Brigade is described in the fifth stanza. It uses the same lines as in stanza three

'Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them.' The difference is in stanza three it says

'Cannon in front of them,' and in stanza five it says

'Cannon behind them,' This shows that the Light Brigade is riding the same route but in the other direction.

Tennyson again puts across the point that some of the men in the light Brigade have been killed in this stanza with by using the words

'All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.'

A memorial to the men of the Light Brigade is written in the fifth stanza. Tennyson uses words such as 'honour' 'noble' and 'glory' to put across the point of how heroic he thought they were