Essay On The Charge Of The Light Brigade

The Charge of the Light Brigade by the English Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland Alfred, Lord Tennyson recounts the Battle of Balaclava between the British and the Russian Empire, which took place during the Crimean War. Critics have argued whether the poem contemplates the greatness of dying while serving ones’ country, or on the contrary, if it condemns the mismanagement of the British Government.
In 1854 Britain and France were at war with Russia for the region of Crimea, thus the name of the Crimean War. The poem is inspired by one of the greatest calamities of the British military history: the massacre of the British Light Cavalry Brigade composed by 627 men, who charged against a Russian army with more than 2000 soldiers. What
For this reason, the poem is a critique of the British Government and their bad military organization, apart from a description of the calamitous parts of wars. The poem is composed of six stanzas which differ in length. In contrast to the majority of English poems, The Charge of the Light Brigade is written in a dactylic meter, with a pattern of two unstressed syllables preceded by a stressed one, as its main characteristic. With this type of meter, Tennyson builds the image and sound of a whole army galloping on horseback towards a battle. This illusion allows the readers to perceive in some way, the harshness and promptness of the whole situation. This swiftness is also present in the omission of the articles, for example: “cannon to right, (..)”, this creates also the idea that the conflict is something hasty, the order to attack the Russian army is not well thought, but rather something hurried. In fact, this hastiness entails the unavoidable and upcoming death of the brigades’ personnel. Moreover, the use of the dactylic meter in the poem invites the reader to enter and envision how it was for the soldiers to be in the battle as the meter creates to some extent a gallop in verse. In addition, the enjambment at the end of the first stanza suggests the speed of the soldiers galloping on horseback, but also, the speed in which the decision to attack is made. From another point of view, the lack of the name of the man in the first stanza works as a generalization to criticize the poor decisions taken by the British Government in general. Tennyson uses the name "Into the valley of Death" (7) to place the battlefield; valleys are “low area(s) of land between mountains or hills”, this enclosure of the land reminds of the graves, which are also enclosed spaces. Interestingly, the repetition of the term “death” denotes the upcoming failure of the six hundred men in the battle