Anaphora And Diction In Charge Of The Light Brigade

Through anaphora and diction he uses in the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade”, Tennyson conveys how even needless death for a cause can hold honor. In reference to the soldiers in his narrative poem, Tennyson repeats, “six hundred” throughout various stanzas but what’s most important about the anaphora he uses is the change of diction before every phrase. In the end of the first two stanzas, he says, “Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred” but as the battle progresses, this line changes to, “Then they rode back, but not / not the six hundred” (37-38) and, “All that was left of them, / Left of six hundred” (48-49). At the end of the poem, Tennyson manipulates the anaphora once more, saying, “Noble six hundred” (55).. The significance

Reflecting the progress of the battle to the reader, it also shows the honor that the soldiers possessed. At the end of each stanza, he is reinforcing the point that the soldiers fought, that the soldiers died, and because of their sacrifice, the soldiers became heroes. Another case that Tennyson emphasizes this point is when he is describing the battle: “Boldly they rode and well, / Into the jaws of Death,”(23-24). Tennyson’s pattern so far has been to capitalize every beginning to a new word, but in these few lines he changes that and capitalizes the word “Death”. This not only draws attention to that word but gives death more meaning throughout the poem. Tennyson describes the soldiers as riding to their death, but doing it with courage. Though they had faced death and sacrificed themselves because of a mistake of a superior officer, they had still fought to the best of their ability. Their death inspires courage in others and their sense of duty makes their sacrifice deserving of honor and

As a boy he had received a basic education at a small grammar school before being schooled in full by his father. At even a young age Tennyson loved to read and write it did not take him long to discover his love of poetry. Tennyson also went on to attend Trinity College, which is where he met Arthur Hallam. Arthur went on to become Tennyson’s closest and most trusted friend. It was at this time he began to publish his own poetry. However not long after in 1831 his father died which caused his family to be thrown into financial difficulties, and as a result he was not able to finish his degree. However, the family loss that he suffered the most from was the loss of three of his younger brothers to mental institution. Yet still troubles plagued him when two years later in 1833 Hallam died from a stroke. The losses Tennyson endured were the chief reason why so much of his poetry revolves around his take on death and loss. Perhaps the most famous example of which is the volume of poems titled “In Memoriam” which was published in 1850 which encompassed Tennyson’s sorrow at the loss of his friend. As time went on his poetry became increasingly well known and appreciated, as a result he became incredibly wealthy and was able to marry Emily Sherwood in the the same year “In Memoriam” was published. His talent with the pen even went as far as to put him on friendly terms with Queen