“Boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell.” That is an excerpt from Lord Alfred Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade, a poem highlighting the honor and death of war. The poem was chosen for this close reading essay because it has always been a personal favorite. It talks of the real events of the Battle of Balaclava, yet speaks of the life all soldiers must live. The Charge of the Light Brigade is a fascinating poem, both in the way it is formed, to the details of why it was created. First, a brief explanation of the poem is in order. In it, six hundred soldiers ride for a league and a half to enter the battle. They were ordered forward against the Russian and Cossack forces, despite being largely outnumbered. Even though the blunder was known, the soldiers did not hesitate as it was not their place. Many died in the battle, and few survived. Next, the events the poem is describing ought to also be set forth in order to provide the proper context. In 1853, war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire; later, this war would come to ...
The first poem we are going to look at is ‘The Charge of the Light
Alfred Tennyson wants to make people to join the army that why he suggests the good point of the British soldiers and he didn’t suggests the loss of the Britain that much. Also Alfred Tennyson read the news paper about the battle of balaclava then he wrote this poem which shows some parts of the poem might not be accurate. However this poem shows the honour of the British soldiers.
In this essay you will notice the differences and similarities between ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ was written in nineteenth century by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In contrast, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written in the twentieth century by Wilfred Owen. The main similarity we have observed is that they both capture war time experiences. However, the poets’ present these events using their own style, and the effect is two completely different observations of war.
Fighting and dying in war can sometimes be seen as an honor, but during actual battles, there is a horrific, scary side of war. Both “The Charge of the Light Brigade” written by Alfred Lord Tennyson and “Dulce et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen reflect on warfare, yet the authors’ conclusions about death during war are different. Tone, imagery, and point of view in the poems are dissimilar to display the contrasting conclusions. In the first poem, Tennyson develops a tone of reverence from a third person point of view in order to convey the idea that one should honor the heroism of soldiers, while in the second poem, Owen employs graphic imagery from first person point of view in order to covey the idea that dying in battle is not honorable or heroic.
However, the poem shows the bravery and actions of the soldiers. The author wanted to honor the light brigade, which is why he wrote the poem. For instance, Tennyson repeats the line, “Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.” (7), to show the bravery of the soldiers. Those six hundred men charged into battle willingly, even though the enemy surrounded the British. The soldiers fought with all their strength, “While horse and hero fell / They that had fought so well.” (44). The light brigade knew that they couldn’t win, yet they didn’t retreat. They charged head on. It is no wonder that both authors favored the
This gives a sense of the excitement of the galloping horses in the cavalry charge, and sweeps the reader along, Tennysons then uses noble sounding euphemisms like “into the valley of death” to describe the fate that awaits these men. He does not convey the gory reality of the slaughter. In the second verse Cardigan gives the order “forward the light brigade!” The soldiers know that the order is wrong, but as they are loyal and brave soldiers willing to fight, they did not disagree, and carried out the order! We know this when Tennyson explains that, “Not though' the soldier knew.”
“Into the mouth of Hell, Rode the 600.” A soldier's duty is to follow any and all commands given to him by his superiors, and this can either be very successful or catastrophic. Tennyson’s poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, tells the story of 600 brave soldiers who have their all and showed the following: extreme heroism and respect to their general. The men were showed unmatched courage and heroism that day when they went into The Battle of Balaclava.
age of 22 and shocked Tennyson profoundly. His grief lead to most of his best
The speaker tells his wife that “[he] don’t see much of them square-‘eaded ‘Uns” (l.5). He drops the letter “h” and makes grammatical errors that exhibit his illiteracy. His clumsy sentence formations display it, too. In line five, he means to say that he does not see many of “those Huns” but replaces “those” with "them”. The “Huns” refer the enemies of World War I. The speaker speaks to his wife in a comfortable tone to avoid causing any suspicion and to arouse optimism and hope. In contrast, the diction choice changes when the speaker converses with his comrade. When the speaker gets shot, he screams, “Guh! Christ! I’m hit/ Take ‘old/ No, damn your iodine.” (l.20-21). The “h” sound is aspirated on the word "hit" to emphasize the impact of the bullet. The immense pain makes him swear and criticize any help being offered. This shows that during turmoil, it is difficult to be discreet. Even though the soldier tries to protect his family from the truth to comfort them, the truth always manages to spill out in some way. He tries to convince his wife that the war will not harm him but his death at the end of the poem unravels the truth.
Whitman examines the comparisons of how the soldiers feel, even though they are each other’s opponents. One similarity within this poem is the “rapid march.” The speaker understands that the other soldier does quite in fact also recognize what it is like to go into war with a mindset to become victorious of their opponents. Whitman begins to make claims that both soldiers realize the value of the battle. He portrays it as “hot contention of opposing fronts,” “the long manoeuvre,” and “Bed battles with their slaughter”. These interpretations about combat explain that both soldiers have grasped the trouble of the battle and how to manipulate the other. The “bed battles of slaughter,” show the death toll of what these soldiers’ plans they made in full effect. Then Whitman links in a convincing tone that the two soldiers are both honorable. Whitman states, “the strong, terrific game,” “Spell of all brave and manly hearts.” This is proving that Whitman understands the soldiers are courageous men. Every man who has put their life in the war falls into the category of honor and bravery in their country. In the second stanza, Whitman uses the word “Adieu” again to the soldier. After stating “Adieu” a second time in the stanzas signify that Whitman is most likely talking to a dead soldier, his enemy.
The poem started unexpectedly in the middle of action as if halfway through an incomplete event that has already started. The soldiers are trying to escape the enemy’s fire but there terrible
The perception of war has gone through much change since the time of Tennyson, in Tennyson’s time war was regarded as a good thing but over time the perception of war has completely reversed, and in my opinion it seems these days that war is something that should be avoided at all costs mainly due to the technical advances made giving war much more potential to destroy more than just lives. I will conclude this essay with a quote from “the charge of the light brigade” which I believe shows the heroism of those men who died for their country and persevered under impossible odds.
“In Memoriam A. H. H.,” a large collection of poems written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, is an extended expression of the poet's grief for the loss of his beloved friend Arthur Hallam. The poem takes the speaker on a journey that describes an individual’s struggle through the stages of grief. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first proposed five stages of grief which include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance in her book titled, “On Death and Dying.” Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s universal stages of grief are expressed in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “In Memoriam A. H. H.”
Moving on down to the next few lines of the poem we find out who are characters are and where they are at. They are soldiers in war, and yes they are enemies. This makes the first stanza of the poem so much clearer now. By the title of the ...
He gives the reader no margin for error, this poem is about the horror of war. Whitman was forty two years old when the civil war started, and the war proved to be a major part of his poetic career. Although he never fought in the war, he realized and knew fully what traumatizing events transpired during the many battles over the years of the war. Although he did not serve his country in arms, he served it in words and writings. He wrote soaring ballads of America, but also wrote gritty tales of battles such as “A March in the Ranks Hard Prest, and the Road Unknown”. He had seen wounded soldiers one day when he was lost in New York, and after he had witnessed their pain, he found new inspiration to write about what soldiers like those had to go through. Whitman wanted to share how brave these soldiers were, and what they had to endure on a day to day basis while fighting the war.