The structure behind the poem “The charge of the light brigade” is unusual as there is irregular rhyme to show there is no pattern to war so there is always a surprise and you can never be sure. There is personification of “death” and “hell” throughout the poem to suggest that death could be one of them and so they don’t know who to trust. There is an assonance in “Charging an army” which is the one of the themes in the poem, to attack the opposing army. There are six stanzas in the poem which could mean that each stanza stands for each hundred that fought on our side of the war. There is alliteration with “Stormed at with shot and shell” to create a big impact and attract the readers attention for the following stanza which talks about the soldiers bravery. This line is also repeated for the same effect. “The last of the light brigade” is structured with regular rhyme; rhyming couplets, to indicate that the remaining soldiers lives have now become routine-like with no surprises. “Limping and lean” is used in alliteration for emphasis, they are not what they used to be. There is no enjambment this shows that everything is complete now that another poem, showing the soldiers after the war, has been written.
There is a big contrast once the two poems are compared. “The charge of the light brigade” is focused on the soldiers best points; bravery, courage and generosity. Whether as “The last of the light brigade” discuses the soldiers current lives; starving, poor and unwanted as the public only gave them “Twenty pounds and four!” The first poem talks about what they did for their country whether as the second poem talks about what their country is doing for them.
In “The charge of the light brigade” the soldiers are described as heroes because they fought for their country and won. The poem is exaggerated to make it more interesting “came thro’ the jaws of Death”. The soldiers are described as men who gave there all for their country. “The last of the light brigade” tells us the truth behind the old poem, that these “heroes” are in fact starving, they don’t have any clothes that fit and no one has the decency to give them any money for saving the country. We are told that they are past heroes, they have lived rough lives, and yet no one is giving them any credit.
“The charge of the light brigade” is made up of short lines to make the reading quicker and so make the pace of the poem faster to give the impression that the war is constantly active. This also highlights the important part of the poem. “The last of the light brigade” has longer line making the poem drag on as it takes longer to read each line. This reflects the pace of the soldiers as they too are slow because not being able to afford food to eat has caused them to be less energetic.
“The charge of the light brigade” has random rhyme also known as irregular rhyme. The unexpected rhyme highlights the fact that the soldiers are not ready. It also draws attention to the important parts of the poem, it emphasises the important words. “The last of the light brigade” has constant, continuous rhyme also known as regular rhyme. It is in rhyming couplets to give the impression that the soldiers are giving their argument about the way the soldiers are now treated, in an AABB way which is a tightly built scheme.
There is repetition in “rode the six hundred” in the poem “The charge of the light brigade” until many of the soldiers die. This symbolises the impact of death and stresses the bravery and courage in those fighting. There is repetition in “The last of the light brigade” with the line “last of the light brigade”, which is about those who have managed to survive are heroes but not given the credit they deserve, instead are forgotten. “Neither” and “Nor” are repeated to bring across the negative message of how the soldiers are “desolate” and “dying of famine”. This makes us feel pathos for the soldiers which is what Rudyard Kipling wanted us to feel when we read the poem.
There are speech marks in the poem “The charge of the light brigade” which are use to give the impression of an order “Foreword the light brigade” the response is the soldiers obeying the orders. All the use of speech marks in the poem is used to reveal the following of orders. Similarly with “The last of the light brigade” the speech marks are used to give orders, but instead of commands the orders are pleadings from the survivors to change the poem, to Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Visual images are created for the reader mostly by personification. In the poem “The charge of the light brigade” the ocular of the soldiers bravery is through the line “Into the jaws of death”. With use from our imagination each reader will see the poem in a different perspective but either way Tennyson has created image through word. In “The last of the light brigade” metaphors are mainly used for optical visions, “life was fleeting”.
In “The charge of the light brigade”, exclamation marks are often used to boldly put forward a statement or image. In stanzas two and nine, rhetorical questions are used to involve the reader and make the poem seem more realistic. In “The last of the light brigade”, “Shame” and “Death” are both spelt with capital letters. This personifies these words and makes them seem like a physical threat to the soldiers.
I found that “The charge of the light brigade” was less powerful and was far less emotional. It wasn’t in a rhyme scheme and the constant repetition made me lose interest. I preferred “The last of the light brigade” as it has a much more powerful impact on the reader. This poem was more interesting to read because it was rhymed in an easy-to-read scheme, this made it nicer to read and more manageable to understand. I liked the underlying message in this poem which was arrogance has it’s consequences.
