Compare Exposure and Charge of the Light Brigade: Grade 9 Thesis & Quotes (AQA)

Quick Comparison Grid (The “Ninja Cheat Sheet”)

1. The Moment vs. The Waiting: Action vs. Inaction (Time & Futility)

Charge of the Light Brigade:

• Tennyson uses dactylic dimeter (“Half a league, half a league”) to create a galloping rhythm—the poem moves like the cavalry charge itself.
• The repetition of “Rode the six hundred” creates a drumbeat of inevitability—they are marching toward death, and everyone knows it.
• Elite Link: The phrase “Someone had blundered” is buried in the middle of the stanza, minimizing the leadership failure and redirecting focus to the soldiers’ bravery—Tennyson protects the commanders by celebrating the obedience.

Exposure:

• Owen uses present tense (“Our brains ache”) to trap the reader in the endless present—there is no forward movement, only suffering.
• The refrain “But nothing happens” is repeated at the end of multiple stanzas, creating a suffocating sense of futility—action is replaced by waiting, and waiting is worse than battle.
• Elite Link: The rhetorical question “What are we doing here?” directly challenges the purpose of the war—Owen refuses to celebrate obedience and instead exposes it as pointless sacrifice.

Explore: Tennyson’s soldiers die in a blaze of action (heroic), while Owen’s soldiers die slowly from cold and neglect (anti-heroic)—both critique leadership, but Owen refuses to offer consolation or glory.

2. The Enemy: Cannons vs. Nature (Who Kills the Soldiers?)

Charge of the Light Brigade:

• The anaphora of “Cannon to right of them, / Cannon to left of them, / Cannon in front of them” creates a sense of being surrounded—the enemy is visible, tangible, and human.
• The personification of the “jaws of Death” and “mouth of hell” frames the battle as a mythic trial—soldiers are heroes facing monsters, not victims of a tactical error.
• Elite Link: The phrase “Stormed at with shot and shell” uses sibilance and violent verbs to make the enemy’s attack sound overwhelming, which justifies the soldiers’ deaths as unavoidable rather than preventable.

Exposure:

• Owen personifies nature as the true enemy: “Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army” and “Winds that knive us”—the weather is more deadly than the Germans.
• The juxtaposition of “Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous” shows that the human enemy is irrelevant—the real threat is the cold and the waiting.
• Elite Link: The line “For love of God seems dying” suggests that even faith has frozen—nature doesn’t just kill the body, it erodes meaning and hope, making death spiritually empty.

Explore: Tennyson’s soldiers die fighting a visible enemy (which allows for heroism), while Owen’s soldiers die fighting an invisible, indifferent enemy (which strips away any possibility of glory)—Owen’s war is existentially bleaker.

3. Structure: The Gallop vs. The Loop (Form Reflects Experience)

Charge of the Light Brigade:

• The dactylic rhythm mimics the sound of horses galloping—form enacts the charge, making the reader feel the momentum and speed.
• The six stanzas mirror the six hundred soldiers—structure becomes a memorial, with each stanza a tribute to their sacrifice.
• Elite Link: The final stanza shifts to imperative mood (“Honour the charge they made!”), directly instructing the reader to celebrate—Tennyson uses structure to enforce the heroic narrative.

Exposure:

• The ABBAC rhyme scheme creates a sense of near-resolution that never arrives (the final line always disrupts the pattern)—structure enacts the frustration of waiting for something that never comes.
• The refrain (“But nothing happens”) appears at the end of stanzas 2, 4, and 7, creating a cyclical structure—the soldiers are trapped in a loop with no escape.
• Elite Link: The half-rhymes (“knive us” / “nervous,” “wire” / “war”) create sonic dissonance, reflecting the psychological disintegration of the soldiers—even language is breaking down under the strain.

Explore: Tennyson uses structure to create momentum and closure (the charge is complete, the soldiers are honored), while Owen uses structure to create stasis and frustration (nothing is resolved, the suffering continues)—form becomes argument.

Context Comparison (AO3 Power Move)

Elite Insight: Tennyson writes to comfort the public and preserve the myth of heroic war, while Owen writes to shatter that myth and force readers to confront the reality—both are responses to leadership failure, but Owen refuses to let the leaders off the hook.

Exam Sentence Starters

1. “While Tennyson presents war as a tragic but noble spectacle of obedience, Owen strips away the heroic veneer to reveal it as a slow, undignified erasure caused by institutional neglect…”
2. “Both poets critique military leadership: Tennyson buries the ‘blunder’ beneath celebration, whereas Owen foregrounds the question ‘What are we doing here?’ to directly challenge the war’s purpose…”
3. “Tennyson’s dactylic rhythm mimics the galloping charge, creating momentum and closure, while Owen’s cyclical refrains (‘But nothing happens’) trap the reader in the same futile loop the soldiers endure…”
4. “The ‘jaws of Death’ in Charge of the Light Brigade can be compared to ‘Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army’ in Exposure, as both poets personify the forces that kill soldiers—but Tennyson’s enemy is human and defeatable, while Owen’s is nature and indifferent…”
5. “Contextually, Tennyson’s role as Poet Laureate required him to shape public morale, while Owen’s role as a soldier-poet gave him the authority to expose the truth—both respond to the same war, but with opposite intentions…”

FAQs

What is the best poem to compare with Exposure?

Charge of the Light Brigade is ideal for exploring futility, leadership failure, and the reality of war. You can also compare Exposure to Bayonet Charge for the physical vs. psychological impact of conflict, or Storm on the Island for nature as an enemy.

What is the best poem to compare with Charge of the Light Brigade?

Exposure works brilliantly for contrasting heroic narratives with anti-heroic reality. Alternatively, compare Charge of the Light Brigade to Bayonet Charge for the moment of battle vs. the chaos of battle, or Remains for obedience vs. guilt.

What is the best theme linking Exposure and Charge of the Light Brigade?

Futility and leadership failure—both poets show soldiers dying because of decisions made by people far from the battlefield, but Tennyson celebrates their obedience while Owen condemns the waste.

What quotes should I compare between Exposure and Charge of the Light Brigade?

• “Someone had blundered” (Charge) vs. “What are we doing here?” (Exposure)—both question leadership, but Owen is far more direct.
• “Into the valley of Death” (Charge) vs. “But nothing happens” (Exposure)—one is dramatic and heroic, the other is bleak and anti-climactic.
• “Honour the charge they made!” (Charge) vs. “For love of God seems dying” (Exposure)—Tennyson demands celebration, Owen offers only despair.

How do I compare structure in Exposure and Charge of the Light Brigade?

Tennyson uses dactylic rhythm to mimic the galloping charge and create a sense of heroic momentum. Owen uses cyclical refrains and half-rhymes to trap the reader in the same endless, futile loop the soldiers experience. Both use form to enact their argument about war.

What is a Grade 9 thesis for Exposure vs. Charge of the Light Brigade?

“While Tennyson presents war as a tragic spectacle of noble obedience where soldiers die gloriously for a commander’s blunder, Owen strips away the heroic veneer to reveal war as a slow, undignified erasure where the true enemy is not the opposition but the indifferent forces of nature and institutional neglect.”

Read Next

• Exposure Revision Sheet
• Charge of the Light Brigade Revision Sheet
• Power & Conflict Comparisons Hub