Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade": Literary Analysis
This paper analyzes Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade," which commemorates a catastrophic cavalry engagement during the Crimean War between Russia and Turkey. The analysis examines the poem's six stanzas and their structural features, including dactylic dimeter, rhyme schemes (rhyming couplets, triplets, and slant rhyme), and the use of anaphora to evoke relentless assault. The paper also explores key literary devices such as personification, visual imagery, and symbolism — particularly the "valley of Death," the "jaws of Death," and the soldiers' sabres — connecting these elements to the poem's overarching themes of heroism, tragedy, and patriotic glory.
- Overview and Historical Context: Crimean War setting and speaker's perspective
- Form and Structure: Six stanzas in dactylic dimeter form
- Rhyme and Anaphora: Rhyme schemes, slant rhyme, and anaphora
- Meter and Rhythm: Stress patterns and dactylic rhythm
- Symbolism, Wordplay, and Imagery: Valley of Death, personification, and sabres
- Themes of Glory and Heroism: Bravery, patriotism, and noble sacrifice
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds the literary analysis in a concrete historical context, helping readers understand why the poem was written and what emotional stakes are involved.
- It moves systematically through discrete poetic elements — form, rhyme, meter, imagery — giving the analysis a clear, organized progression.
- It uses direct quotations from the poem to illustrate each technical point, making abstract claims about rhyme patterns and meter immediately verifiable.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates close reading by isolating specific stanzas and labeling their rhyme schemes (A, B, C, D, E) before naming the technical terms (couplet, triplet, slant rhyme). This approach — show the evidence first, then name the concept — is an effective way to build a reader's understanding of poetic terminology without assuming prior knowledge.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a narrative summary of the poem's situation and speaker, then transitions into a systematic treatment of literary devices organized under clear subheadings: form, rhyme, meter, and imagery. It closes by connecting the technical analysis back to the poem's thematic message of bravery and national glory. This structure mirrors a standard literary analysis essay appropriate for an introductory undergraduate course.
Overview and Historical Context
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" commemorates a disastrous historical military engagement that occurred during the initial phase of the Crimean War, fought between Turkey and Russia. The situation depicted in the poem involves 600 horsemen of the Light Brigade who are ordered to charge into a valley while carrying their weapons at their sides. They obey the order but are met with heavy gunfire upon encountering their Russian enemies. They attack and kill some of the enemy forces before retreating back down the valley. On their return they face intense gunfire, and many of the soldiers lose their lives.
The speaker is someone who was present at the time of the battle. He vividly remembers the charge and wants to pass on the story of those heroes who rode forward and lost their lives that day. There is a great deal of power in his memories, and a deep patriotism can be heard in his words. He acknowledges both the tragedy and the honor of the engagement, and he aims to ensure that anyone reading the poem is stirred and never forgets the scene he has recreated.
Form and Structure
The poem has six stanzas that vary in length from six to twelve lines. Each line takes the form of a dimeter, meaning that it contains two stressed syllables. The poem employs a falling rhythm, in which stress falls on the first beat of each metrical unit and then diminishes over the remaining length of the meter.
Rhyme and Anaphora
The rhymes in this poem are not entirely predictable, but they are important to how the poem is constructed. These rhymes appear in different ways: sometimes in a cluster of lines with rhyming words at the end of each, and sometimes within individual lines. For instance, in stanza two there are various rhyming patterns, 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 form a rhyming couplet. The words blundered and hundred sound alike in a looser sense and are therefore termed a slant rhyme, or near rhyme. The words reply, why, and die form a rhyming triplet.
The poem also uses anaphora — the repetition of the 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 technique creates a sense of unrelenting assault. In every line where the word cannon appears, it mirrors the way the soldiers encountered flying shells at every turn.
References
Tilton, J. E. (1870). The Charge of the Light Brigade. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson. Retrieved October 26, 2013, from
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