A further aspect is the total omission of blood, suffering, pain, fighting and authenticity of war and battle. Finally, the poem is intended for children because of the language’s straightforwardness so it’s easy to learn and will be never taken seriously.
In conclusion, the attitude to war, in the eyes of a child and possible future soldiers, is just a simple and easy game.
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Tennyson
The background to Tennyson’s poem is an infamous one. The poem is based on the Crimean War, fought between 1854-1856. In the 19th century, Britain was a big empire under control of Queen Victoria. If British territory was challenged, they had to fight. Britain had a base in Balaclava, in Southern Russia, which was being threatened by Russians. The Light Brigade was supposed to be told to retake some guns held by the Russians but the wrong order was given. Instead, they charged the main enemy line at the head of a valley. Then the most terrible military disaster of all time happened. Six hundred soldiers marched ahead on horseback but only two hundred were barely able to flee. The British Government panicked and had to think of something to keep the public morale so Tennyson, the respected poet, was asked to write a poem to cover the real events with some of his known work.
There are a number of language techniques that help persuade the reader to believe Tennyson.
One thing is the fast pace of the metre. In the poem, he quotes, “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward”. This suggests the galloping rhythm of horses that brings us into the poem.
Secondly, Tennyson uses repetition to make us believe him more. He quotes “Cannon…Cannon…Cannon…” This also emphasises the sense of excitement and tension.
Another point is the rare appearance of honesty in the poem. Having him write, “Someone has blundered,” convinces us that all of it is true.
A further point is Tennyson’s choice of selective information. Throughout the poem, there’s no trace of blood, gore or realistic suffering, causing the reader to believe that they died without pain and heroically. He also restricted us to how many soldiers died. “Not the six hundred,” which purposely hides the authenticity of the deaths in the event. Tennyson’s misleading information on verse four is pretty similar. He writes, “ Right through the line, they broke” which leads us to believe Britain is winning. The next point is the verbs of action which emphasises their power, at the time and helps us get caught up in the action.
”Volleyed…stormed…thundered” are only a few of the words in Tennyson’s poem that describe their power. Another point is his heroic metaphors like “Valley of Death” or “Jaws of Death” and “Mouth of Hell” cause it to sound like an action movie- emphasis on heroism not suffering. In the end, war is seen as glorious, an intentional piece of propaganda.
“Drummer Hodge” by Thomas Hardy
Firstly, the background to the Boer War is an interesting one. It started near the end of the 1890’s in South Africa with the British against the Dutch. The Boer War was also nicknamed “The Diamond War” because of the of the tension between soldiers when they were tempted with priceless stones and jewels. The group of people who went in the first line, however, were little children called Drummer boys, who were supposed to lead their soldiers into battle while playing on their drums at a hypnotic pace and rhythm to psyche them into a fighting spirit. This states the obvious that the Drummer boys were killed first, a senseless waste of youth. The British were under control of Queen Victoria, who had experienced a lot but was on her last legs, and she was completely committed to winning this war. Eventually, the British won the war but that was Queen Victoria’s last success. She died in 1901, which also meant the death of the British Empire. Afterwards, Thomas Hardy wrote a poem of protest against people using children as
Thomas Hardy used several techniques to create the setting of the Boer War. For example, he uses adjectives like “young” and “fresh”. This reminds us of just how inexperienced the drummer is and the use of the word “fresh” describes that he is just an object like fresh meat, in the eyes of his “superiors”.
Going in another direction, the repetition of his name “Hodge” four times which makes the poem far more. The uses of African words like “kopje-crest…veldt…Karoo” makes it seem more realistic and native.
