Descriptions of Battle in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast the differences between ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is written by Poet Lauriat Lord Tennyson and ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ is written by Lord Byron. They both contain different poetic techniques and write about a battle in completely different ways.

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.

The historical content behind ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1815 in his Hebrew Melodies. It is based on an event described in the bible during the campaign led by King Sennacherib to capture Jerusalem.

The first Poem is written by Poet Loriet Alfred Lord Tennyson after the Crimson war. It was written to compliment the British effort in the suicidal rush into the ‘Jaws of Death’, were they all sadly perished. It was written in a positive attitude to the British making them sound noble and brave with out mentioning who it was that made the order that killed the men. There are subtle hints in the poem however saying that he agrees it was in fact a mistake such as ‘O the wild charge they made!’ which states it was in fact a wild charge, ‘All the world wondered’, says that the world wondered why someone would ever send an army on a suicide march and a coincidence as the first word of the last line in the last 3 verses state ‘Not Left Noble’.

The poem is about a rush made by the British agains...

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...gade’ is written about a factual battle that did happen, ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ did not actually involve the Angle of Death. Tennyson has written a simple account of the version using easy language for the public to understand and enjoy reading while Byron has written a complicated story of a battle using biblical terms and speech throughout. Byron’s is also Romantic while Tennyson’s is a biased account of a lost battle.

To conclude this essay about the comparisons and the contrasts in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ is that Byron has written a Romantic account on a biblical account of a battle concerning the Angle of Death or God and the Assyrian’s while Tennyson, who was Poet Lauriat, wrote a simple version of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ showing how noble the soldiers were and he makes it a readable story.