Using the two poems, The Charge of the Light Brigade and the Destruction of Sennacherib, compare and contrast the attitudes to war expressed in the poems.
GCSE English Course Work
Poem comparison
Using the two poems, The Charge of the Light Brigade and the Destruction of Sennacherib, compare and contrast the attitudes to war expressed in the poems. Analysis should be closely related to the text and historical and social background must be included. The comparative element is important for the higher grades.
2,368 words
Due 24th October
The Charge of the Light Brigade poem tells the story of the 1854 deadly charge of six hundred heroic cavalry soldiers charging to their deaths by a false order in the Crimean war.
Russia's ambition to control more countries started as the Turkish Empire collapsed which threatened the British and the French. In September of 1854 the Allies landed in Crimea of southern Russia. Shortly after the Russians attacked the British base at Balaclava and the British weaponry was stolen Lord Cardigan made the order for the Light Brigade to advance,
"The Brigade will advance" at ten minutes past eleven on the 25th October. Captain Nolen made the command to retake their guns from the Russians through the valley. He told Lord Luken to give the order to Lord Cardigan,
"You go to the end of the valley, to the guns and take them out!" The message was sent but misunderstood to Lord Cardigan as he ordered the Light Brigade to go straight through the middle of the valley and charge into the guns surrounding them. So the heroic soldiers obeyed their higher ranks and charged for the guns without any questioning of authority, and the battle lasted for a mere twenty-five minutes. This has always been confusing to historians about whether this battle should be remembered for the stupidity of the commanding officers, or for the heroic cavalry of the Light Brigade charging to their deaths. As this battle was the first to be properly reported and photographed the public had a much better understanding of the Charge of the Light Brigade because of reports sent back by W.H. Russell, a correspondent for The Times newspaper. He reported the battle and described it as a very deadly scene,
"They were lost from view the plain was strewn with their bodies" and "The flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain" and by a photograph from a pioneering photojournalist, James Fenton, showing the British base. These new manners of reporting changed the way reports were to be made on the front line.
The poet of the Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Lord Tennyson, most likely gathered his information to write his poem from the reports made by the correspondents reporting at the front line when the battle started. The poem itself was published in The Examiner on December 9th 1854 and Tennyson wrote himself in his author's notes,
"This poem was written after reading the first report of The Times correspondent"
Tennyson probably found it easy to find out about the battle because of these reports and photography had just been invented and first used in this battle.
I think Tennyson chose to write about this event because it involved over six hundred soldiers charging to their deaths and no one really understood why this happened at the time and the local people would be very interested. This battle was so unique to many others too because of the certain death and insane ...
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"This poem was written after reading the first report of The Times correspondent"
Tennyson probably found it easy to find out about the battle because of these reports and photography had just been invented and first used in this battle.
I think Tennyson chose to write about this event because it involved over six hundred soldiers charging to their deaths and no one really understood why this happened at the time and the local people would be very interested. This battle was so unique to many others too because of the certain death and insane orders involved.
Tennyson's poem starts expressing his attitudes to war by portraying the "six hundred" soldiers as heroes, by his quote from an episode of 'John Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress' and Psalm 23 of the bible, in the first verse, "All in the valley of Death" in both of the sources the valley of death is a term for bravery in the face of death. "Faith makes people brave when they are faced with death"
His repetition of the lines,
"Rode the six hundred" and "the valley of Death" in the first verse adds to the heroism involved by making the reader memorize the "six hundred" and their foe "the valley of Death" as these words occur so often throughout the poem.
On the same line Tennyson highlights the word "Death" by making it the only word starting with a capital letter because it makes the subject of dying more noticeable to the reader and so adds to the effect of heroism, as there is a great risk involved.
There is more feeling of heroism in this verse of line two as Tennyson focuses on the theme of heroism throughout the poem by lines and such as,
"Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die" this quote is explaining that the soldiers did their duty without question.
The soldiers never knew about the order being false,
"Not though the soldier knew, Some one had blundered" this quote expresses how inexplicable the charge must have seemed to the soldiers as they galloped obediently to the valley of death.
Tennyson starts a new theme of no hope in verse 3,
"Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them" this quote creates the feeling to the reader of no more hope by setting an image of surrounding cannons, and the repetition of the word "Cannon" keeps the readers mind focused on the fearful guns helping them to visualize the scene.
"Volleyed and thundered, Stormed at with shot and shell" the quote describes the gun fire of the cannons, making the reader realize one shot seemed to fire many shells which creates a greater feeling of no hope for the Light Brigade. The quote,
"Stormed at with shot and shell" makes the reader imagine the scene more by the metaphor, "Stormed" and a lot of alliteration is used in this line to make the powerful words more noticeable. Tennyson also draws the reader to the lines quoting,
"Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell" as Tennyson has once again made the powerful words, "Death" and "Hell" start with capital letters which makes the reader's attention closer. To help the reader imagine the battle further, Tennyson personifies "Death" and "Hell" as organs of a body. This grips the reader as he feels the impact of these words joined together to form the line between life and death.
The Light Brigade were completely visible in battle,
"Flashed all their sabres bare" this quote states their swords all flashed by reflecting sun light and the use of the word, "bare" is meant by the cavalry being completely visible and uncovered.
Tennyson changes his theme of no hope on the 3rd line to high hope,
"Sabring the gunners there" Tennyson states this to give more hope, as the soldiers get close enough to the guns to sabre the gunners
Tennyson raises the theme of mystery again in the line,
"All the world wondered why" this line is repeated throughout the poem too, which constantly reminds the reader of the mystery of the battle as the world wondered why the soldiers did it.
Although Tennyson raises hope again in the lines,
"Then they rode back but not, not the six hundred" this quote states that some did ride back alive, which suggests a victory as the previous line helps this statement,
"Right through the line they broke" this already tells the reader for sure the Light Brigade did manage to charge through the line.
The fifth verse starts the same as the third verse which portrays the battle mostly as hopeless and dangerous. Tennyson copies the beginning of this verse to add effect to the bravery and obedience of the Light Brigade,
"While horse and hero fell, They that had fought so well, Came through the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of Hell" Tennyson repeats the exact same personification as in verse three to remind the reader of the dangers and death involved. As Tennyson states they came back through the mouth of hell and jaws of death this raises the theme of victory as some came back from the certain death.
The last verse of the Light Brigade poem concentrates completely of the celebration in honour for the Light Brigade,
"When can their glory fade?" and "Honour the Light Brigade" this states they should always be praised and never forgotten. The mystery line is given again,
"All the world wondered why" this reminds the reader once again of how dangerous and stupid the charge had been. The last few lines are positioned at the end to keep the reader's mind on how brave and wonderful the Light Brigade were,
"Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred"
I personally think this poem is very well written to portray the many themes Tennyson wanted to express and the short lines helps the reader to read quickly to how it should be read. I think it does deserve a place in an anthology dedicated to war poetry because it portrays heroes of war and the fears of war, which I believe are the main themes of war.
The Destruction of Sennacherib poem tells the story of the powerful army of Assyria who died in their sleeps just before they were going to invade the town of Galilee. The most peculiar aspect of the story is how the great army of thousands of Assyrians died. No proper reports were made of the battle and so no one even knew what happened to the army. However a British archaeologist, Austen Henry Layard explored the ruins of Nineveh where he discovered the lost palace of Sennacherib. Inside he found accounts of the invasion and published them in The Times newspaper. It was later when Lord Byron read the report and wrote his poem in 1815.
The two poets, Lord Alfred Tennyson and Lord Byron have similarities and contrasts in their attitudes to war as shown in their poems, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and The Destruction of Sennacherib.
As a theme was shown in Tennyson's poem of heroism, the Destruction of Sennacherib has the theme of power.
"And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold" power and kingship is shown here on the army of the king of Assyria as the colours purple and gold are signs of power and true kingship
"And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea" a simile used by Byron stating there were many soldiers which suggests power as well.
The Destruction of Sennacherib compares well to the Charge of the Light Brigade as they both include death
"Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green" and "Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown" this contrast of the similes, describing the soldiers from feeling alive in Summer, to feeling dead in Autumn. The simile "Autumn" is used because of how the leaves fall and die from their trees as are the same for the soldiers,
"That host on the morrow lay wither'd and strown" the host represents the soldiers and they lie "wither'd and strown" suggesting they are dead and motionless.
A comparison between the two is also given as they both personify death as images, as shown in the Charge of the Light Brigade,
"Into the jaws of Death" and shown in the Destruction of Sennacherib,
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast" death is personified as an angel that kills all as it spreads it's wings making the deaths happen at an instant.
Byron raises a theme of mystery, which is used in Tennyson's poem as to no one knew why the Light Brigade charged, as in the Destruction of Sennacherib as no one ever knew what exactly happened to the great army.
A contrast between the two poems is shown by the short excited paced verses of the Charge of the Light Brigade and the long sad verses of the Destruction of Sennacherib. The Charge of the Light Brigade has many short lines and less description than Byron's poem which makes the poem easier to read quickly as the reader is reading more about the actions happening rather than the atmosphere, which the Destruction of Sennacherib does more of as it's lines are much longer and more descriptive making the reader read more slowly and able to imagine the atmosphere in their minds more vividly than in the Charge of the Light Brigade.
The main contrast between the two poems is that the Destruction of Sennacherib's battle never started as all because the soldiers all died in their sleeps, but the Charge of the Light Brigade poem starts at the beginning of the battle,
"All in the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred" this quote is from the Charge of the Light Brigade, which starts at the very beginning of the battle.
"The lances uplifted, the trumpet unblown" this quote is from the Destruction of Sennacherib. The trumpet was unblown because the order to advance was never made.
There is a contrast between the celebrations to the soldiers from the Charge of the Light Brigade for battling heroically,
"Honour the charge they made" and the sorrows from the people of Ashur (an ancient city of Assyria) because of all the men dead before the battle took place,
"Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord" most people believed the army died from the praying to the god of the town of Galilee which was where the army was planning to invade. This quote means the soldiers died as the god looked upon them.
In my personal opinion, both of these poems deserve a place in war poetry because of their accuracy in their relation of events and their common war themes such as death and sorrow. I do like how the Charge of the Light Brigade is so fast paced and full of short and bright verses to symbolise the glorious outcome, although Tennyson makes clear their sacrifice was avoidable and pointless, where as the Destruction of Sennacherib has long and descriptive lines making it sound more melancholy. Lord Byron also writes of pointless avoidable sacrifice as Sennacherib's army is killed as they sleep, but the outcome is not depicted as glorious, but simply as tragic.
English Course work Samuel Varley
11T
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