The valley of death is a metaphor and imagery is used here. This tells you that the soldiers are going to their death and they know it. This describes what the valley was like. Forward the light brigade, this is direct speech and into the valley of death is where Tennyson is slowly building up repitition.
On the second verse the second line is the most relevant one in this verse ‘was their a man dismayed?’ this is a rhetorical question as it is obvious the soldier wouldn't be dismayed because the job as a soldier is ' but to do and die' this is how a soldiers response would be as it is their duty to just do as they are told.
Verse 3 is all about the battle commencing as it tells us all the noises of battle. Cannon to the left and right, 'Volleyed and thundered refer to the sound of cannons, a noise that would confuse or scare someone but not these soldiers although they are ‘stormed at with shot and shell’they still ride on 'boldly'. The use of alliteration adds to the feeling of noise and confusion. The image of face with a mouth represents the valley into which the soldiers are riding again this image should scare some people but not these brave soldiers who are willing to lay down their lives for their country.
In verse 4 the start of the first and second lines start with ‘flashed’ and this is repeated to show a glorious idea of light turning the sabres and killing the opposition. ‘Sabering the gunners there’, it sounds as if the British were winning the battle but they were not. The word ‘plunged’ sounds like the charge is force full and almost reckless ‘plunged in the battery-smoke’ meaning going in boldly. They broke the Russian line of defence. The other army were ‘reeled’and were ‘shattered and sundered’ this being broken alliteration giving us the impression that the light brigade had defeated them which was not the case. The final line is confusing as we are not told how many British were killed simply ‘then they rode back, but not the 600’.
Verse 5 still describes the battle. There is the repetition of verse 3 in order to emphasise the length of the battle and the confusion felt by the soldiers.
It goes on to personalise the battle when Tennyson says ‘horse and hero fell’, this tells us that the soldiers and their horses were dying.
The last verse begins with another rhetorical question. The fact that ‘their glory cannot fade’ because of the brave act they committed, people should never forget this sacrifice. He repeats that we should ‘honour’ the Light Brigade. We should honour the men because they died needlessly as they knew that they were being sent to their deaths but carried on fighting for their country.
I felt this to be a much better poem compared to Anthem For Doomed Youth. In this poem Tennyson seems to show the war as a glorious thing. I do not feel that any war can be glorified in any way. This poem seems to show the British Army was a laughing stock and that someones stupidity had caused all these needless deaths. Tennyson seems to portray the courage of the men which is positive and he seems to want us to be proud of what the saoldiers did albeit a mistake.
