One this day in 1854, Alfred, Lord Tennyson published his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”. At the time, he was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. He wrote the poem under the pseudonym A.T. because he used traditional structure and felt it might be considered beneath a poet laureate. He was inspired by news reports of the fateful charge of the Light Cavalry Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava. The poem is patriotic, but does mention that a blunder was made. He sent thousands of copies of his poem to the soldiers in the Crimea. The poem helped establish the legend of the charge. It is fairly accurate. There were actually 670 men. The blunder was that Lord Raglan misread the repositioning of Russian artillery as a retreat. His order to attack was delivered by an aide who was vague about what hill to attack and this resulted in the cavalry attacking a different hill and having to ride between two other hills to get there. The brigade came under artillery fire from three sides. They were cannon fodder while riding through the “valley of death”. They did not break through and rout some Cossacks, although a few lucky men did reach the Russian line. But they and the rest had to return through the storm of steel. 118 were killed, 127 were wounded, and 60 were captured. Although legendary as an exemplar of bravery, the attack had no effect on the war. It was not a moral victory. The poem inspired the band Iron Maiden (which did other historical songs) to make the song “The Trooper”. The official video used clips from Errol Flynn’s “Charge of the Light Brigade”.
I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
IV
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
https://interestingliterature.com/2016/01/a-short-analysis-of-the-charge-of-the-light-brigade/
https://www.grunge.com/189902/the-tragic-true-story-of-the-charge-of-the-light-brigade/
https://warmoviebuff.blogspot.com/2012/09/26-charge-of-light-brigade.html
0 Comments