As poet laureate and patriot, Alfred, Lord Tennyson was very influential in 19th century England. He successfully showed the ignorance of the English Army leaders while still reflecting his strong nationalist views in an attempt to create propaganda for the Crimean War in his poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The charge was a tragic incident that took place in 1854 during the Crimean War, which was England, France and Sardinia against Russia, when English Army generals blundered and sent over six hundred soldiers on a charge that was destined for disaster. The solders were known as the Light Brigade and the charge resulted in over two hundred deaths to soldiers and over three hundred deaths to horses. In this horrific aftermath, Tennyson responded to this event by writing a poem which went on to become a classic. Tennyson was a strong nationalist and very political. He was moved and troubled when he received news of the tragic charge. The poem became a form of propaganda for the Crimean War due to Tennyson glorifying the sacrifice of the soldiers by using his exceptional writing skills. Although this poem is regarded by many as propaganda, he included the word blunder in the poem which showed the ignorance of the Army leaders.
To begin with, Tennyson was a strong nationalistic poet and he was well educated in the field of politics. He expressed his opinions and preferences concerning political matters. For example, he was not in favour of despotic rule and Marjorie Reeves explains that, “As a student he [Tennyson] was strongly political and his sympathies lay with European Nationalist pulsing against despotic rule” (152). In 1850, Tennyson was appointed The Poet Laureate of England and reflected very patriotic views in ...
... middle of paper ...
... Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia 1500 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. 2003. Google Books. Web.12 April 2011.
Jones, Philip Dwight. “Balaklava, Battle of.” World Book Student. 2011 ed. Web. 30 March 2011.
Bloom, Harold. Bloom’s Major Poets, Alfred Lord Tennyson. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 1999. P.11. print.
Marshall, Carol. “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Poetry Out Loud. School Library Journal, 2005: 59. Elibrary.Web. 31 March 2011.
Pearce Joseph. Literary Giants, Literary Catholics. Ignatious Press, 2005. Google Books. Web. 9 April 2011.
Southam, Brian. British Writers. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892). Print.
Blunden, Edmund and Heinemann, Eds. “Tennyson.” Selected Poems. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1960. p.1. print.
Southam, B.C. “Tennyson.” Writers and Their Works : NO 218. London: Longman Group, 1971. p.6. print.
Tennyson, Alfred Lord. "In Memoriam A. H. H." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 3rd ed., Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1974. 1042-84.
The historical context behind ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is that it is a battle in October 1854, which was a disastrous charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, Tennyson wrote the poem pointing out the courageous and the tragic.
Ellmann, Richard and Robert O'Clair, ed. The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 2nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton
Thomas." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003. 101-10. Print.
What made Tennyson so Victorian was his ready acceptance of the mores of his day, his willingness to conform to popular taste, to write a poetry that was easily understood and enjoyed. Partly as a result of his position as a public and nationalist figure, Tennyson was by far the most popular poet of the Victorian era. No poet was ever so completely a nation...
Wolfson, Susan and Peter Manning (eds.). The Longman Anthology of British Literature: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. Volume 2A. New York: Longman, 1999.
Ellmann, Richard and Robert O’Clair. Modern Poems. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1989.
London: n.p., 1998. Print. fourth Bloomfield, Morton W. New Literary History. Winter ed. N.p.:
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "The Lady of Shalott." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. 1204-1208.
Allison, Barrows, Blake, et al. eds. The Norton Anthology Of Poetry . 3rd Shorter ed. New York: Norton, 1983. 211.
1 Modern Poetry. Third Edition. Norton. I am a naysayer. 2003. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the Williams, William.
soldiers, and the unexpected experience of war. Lord Tennyson looks at the superior side of war and celebrates the beauty of war, although not knowing, the war had blundered and six hundred soldiers were now dead.
The author of The Charge of the Light Brigade uses a variety of poetic elements that could affect the reader’s understanding of the true events of the Battle of Balaclava. For example, certain parts of this poem are exaggerated. The poem also has fictional qualities, such as imagery and figurative language, that could hinder the reader’s understanding of certain parts of the battle. Finally, the poet uses rhyme and repetition to emphasize moments in the battle that may only be important to him. All of these elements could change the way the reader thinks about the Battle of Balaclava.
330-337. Tennyson, Alfred, Lord of the Lord. The Lady of Shalott. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed.
Tennyson, Alfred. "Ulysses." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th ed.