English GCSE AQA: Comprehensive Analysis of the Power and Conflict Poems

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854) - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Précis: The poem describes a disastrous cavalry charge that took place during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War.

Context:  Alfred, Lord Tennyson was one of the most important poets of the Victorian period. He was the Poet Laureate (the country's official poet) from 1850 until his death in 1892. His poems range from those focused on the legend of King Arthur to those dealing with the loss of a loved one. 

The Crimean war saw British troops fighting in Russia between 1853 and 1856. At this time, while there were basic guns and cannons, people would still also fight on horses (like the Cossack regiment), to rush in and attack before they could reload or stop them. However, the light brigade was very lightly equipped, more for scouting or attacking from the back or sides rather than charging straight in. 

During a battle, a miscommunication sent the light brigade charging head first into the cannons of the other side, it was a huge catastrophe, and many died. It showed to the British that even mistakes could happen. The men were respected for following orders, even though they knew they might be wrong. Some, however, have criticised the way they blindly followed orders. Lord Tennyson was the poet who was asked to write about their glorious sacrifice. At the time, newspaper censorship did not exist, so all could read not only about any military victories but mistakes and horrific details as well.

Themes: The poem is about war, life and death, sacrifice and folly. It naturally links to conflict and is effective at showing peoples views on the war of the time. The poem also contains a lot of reference to biblical/religious ideas as well as bravery and fear. 

Tennyson's job as poet laureate was to capture the public mood and, given the poem is still so well-known, he certainly did that. But the feelings in the poem can appear to be ambiguous – in other words, can be seen in two different ways.

How much outrage is there in this poem, though? Part of its success is the way Tennyson recreates the energy of battle – half a league, half a league. The final stanza does not express any anger at politicians and generals. It does, however, show delight at what they did: O the wild charge they made!

The poem, therefore, seems to be more concerned with creating national heroes for a nation than mourning the dead soldiers or arguing against the war.

Structure: Written in dimeter and dactylic. That means there are two (di-) stresses in each line, that means two beats or syllables which you read with a bit more force. The syllables after are then unstressed. So when there are six syllables, you would read it ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three. The drop in stress is perhaps to show the sudden charge and then collapse, or the sound of horses galloping. 

The poem is divided into six stanzas and uses a lot of repetition. Some of this is to show the different stages of the battle but also give it a structure. It has a very military rhyme and can be similar to the sound of marching drums of horse hooves. This is used to reflect the military nature of the conflict in the poem. Also, each stanza is a memorial stone to 100 of the 600 cavalrymen. The length of the stanzas reflects the structure of the story.

The first three stanzas - the Light Brigade is approaching the guns. Here, there is a strong structure. Three lines (of three six-to-seven syllables) are followed by a shorter line (five syllables: "rode the six hundred"). This pattern suggests the strong formation in which the cavalry charge.

Stanza two – the Light Brigade has engaged the enemy, so the longer stanzas describe the struggle. The structure starts to break down. The rhythm of stanza four, for example, is broken by four shorter lines, while stanza five has only two short lines (lines 42 and 48). The desperate attempt to retreat is expressed in the run of six longer lines (43-48).