Disastrous Historical Military Engagement That Occurred During

¶ … disastrous historical military engagement that occurred during the initial phase of Crimean war that was fought between Turkey and Russia. The situation in the poem is a war whereby there are 600 horsemen of the light brigade that are ordered to charge into the valley holding guns on their sides. They obey the order but they are met with heavy gunfire upon their encounter with their Russian enemies. They attack and kill some of them and end up retreating down the valley. On their way back they encounter bad gunfire and many of the soldiers end up loosing their lives. The speaker is someone when was there at the time of the war. He vividly remembers the charge and wants to pass on the story of those heroes who charged and lost their lives on that day. There is a lot of power in his memories and patriotism that can be heard in his words. He sees both the tragedy and the positive side of the war. He wants to ensure that anyone reading the poem is stirred up and never forget the scenario that he created.

Literary and poetic elements

Form

The poem has six stanzas that vary in length from six to twelve lines. Each line is in the form of a dimeter meaning that it contains two stressed syllables. There is the use of falling rhythm whereby stress is on first beat of each metric unit and goes ahead to fall off for the remaining length of the meter.

Rhyme

The rhymes in this poem are not predictable but are important when it comes to how the poem has been put together. these rhymes appear in different ways some in bunch of lines with rhyming words in a row at the end and at times it occurs within each line and so on. For instance, in stanza tow there are various rhyming words as shown below.

Forward, the Light Brigade!" (A)

Was there a man dismayed? (A)

Not though the soldier knew (B)

Someone had blundered. (C)

Theirs not to make reply, (D)

Theirs not to reason why, (D)

Theirs but to do and die. (D)

Into the valley of Death (E)

Rode the six hundred. (C)

The words brigade and dismayed are known as a rhyming couple. When looking at the words blundered and hundred they sound alike in a way and they are thus termed as slant rhyme or near rhyme. Reply, why and die are known as triplet.

The poem uses anaphora whereby there is the repetition of same word at the beginning of consecutive lines as illustrated below;

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

This is used to create a sense of unrelenting assault in every line the word cannon appears in the same way the soldiers meet their flying shells at every turn.

Meter

There are several syllables that are emphasized within the poem. This is also termed as stress. Within this poem there are tow stresses in each line

Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

the pattern here is that the syllables that are stressed come at the begriming and within the middle of the line. They are then followed by two less stressed syllables. Therefore makes the poem a rhythmic dactylic.

Symbolism, wordplay and imagery

There are various styles used within the poem. For instance the valley of death is a major visual image. The valley is the setting where the charge occurs .there is personification with reference to jaws of death since death is given a human or animal feature. There is also personification with reference to mouth of hell .guns and cannon are a key image used by the enemy as a threat to death .Sabres the light brigade carries a symbol of power and heroism.