Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Part of the AQA Poetry Anthology, Power and Conflict
Analyse the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson to understand the use of form, structure and poetic devices and how these relate to the underlying themes within the poem.
We’ve captured all of the points below in our PDF guide which you can download below.
Where to start
Analysing poetry can be a little daunting at first, and you may need to read it a few times before you understand what the poet is trying to say. Don’t worry though, you will soon get used to it and start to understand how to approach analysing a poem.
It’s important that you use the version of the poem from your anthology when doing your analysis. The layout of some poems can differ from publication to publication (particularly over the internet) – perhaps some words will have been changed or the stanzas may be set out differently. This can affect the analysis. So, always work from the version set out in your anthology as this is how the poem will be laid out in your exam.
When analysing the poem try to do a little research on the poet themselves. It is not strictly necessary but understanding a little about them and their background can provide some helpful context to the poem which can be useful in your analysis.
Download a clean version of the poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson using the button opposite. You can use it to mark up your own notes from the analysis below.
About the poet - Alfred Lord Tennyson
- Tennyson was born into a middle class family in 1809 in Lincolnshire.
- His father was a clergyman and a very shrewd man which enabled the family to live a very comfortable life.
- Tennyson wrote poems from an early age, as did his brothers. They had a collection published locally when Tennyson was just 17.
- He attended Trinity college in Cambridge but had to leave before attaining his degree following the death of his father.
- He continued writing poetry and was named as Poet Laureate in 1850.
- This position required him to write poetry based on notable events. He held the position until his death in 1892.
Cabinet card by Elliott & Fry, late 1860s
Background to the poem
Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville Jr.
- The poem is based on a true event; the Battle of Balaclava which took place during the Crimean War.
- Battles during that time were very physical – with soldiers on foot or horse-back.
- The battle was between Britain and Russia. Britain made huge gains during the battle, with the Russian army suffering heavy losses.
- The Light Brigade was made up largely of inexperienced, privileged soldiers who rode on horseback.
- They didn’t take part in real fighting, their role was to ride in at the end of a battle, secure weapons and hold ground.
What is the poem about?
- At the end of the Battle of Balaclava the British army wanted to secure their weapons and so the Light Brigade were ordered to go in.
- However, there was a huge mis-communication at the top and the Light Brigade were sent into the wrong valley and ended up surrounded on 3 sides by the Russian army.
- The soldiers could see they were riding into almost-certain death but felt unable to contradict those in charge.
- The Light Brigade rode bravely into the valley and fought valiantly but many lives were lost.
- The battle was widely reported in the British media and those in charge were heavily criticised.
- Tennyson wrote the poem after reading a report on the battle. He wanted to highlight the bravery of the soldiers and the mistakes made by those in charge.
Image by Anemone123 from Pixabay
So now we know that the poem is about let’s analyse how Tennyson uses poetic devices to tell his story.
Form and Structure
The poem is written as a narrative account; it tells the story of the battle from the soldiers being ordered into the valley. Tennyson himself was not at the battle himself and wrote the poem from how it was reported in the press. When writing the poem he wanted to emphasise the bravery of the soldiers whilst pointing out the errors made by those in charge. How did he use structure and form to accomplish this?
Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay
- The poem is written in the form of a ballad. This form is commonly used for poems that tell a story, particularly one that the poet wants them to remember.
- With a ballad, the last line in each stanza is typically a ‘refrain’. This is a line that repeats a key message that the poet wants to emphasise. Tennyson uses this here.
- By repeating this message throughout the poem it makes it easier for the reader to remember.
- Tennyson’s key message was the bravery of the soldiers, with his refrain in each stanza referring to the ‘six hundred’ soldiers who rode into battle.
- The rhythm of the poem is predominantly dactylic dimeter. This is where there are six syllables in a line with the first and third being stressed.
- The effect of this is a sort of Dum-da-da beat, which echoes the sound of the horses galloping into battle.
- Dactylic dimeter is also known as a ‘falling beat’ – this is where the stressed syllable comes first, followed by unstressed. This falling beat could be a reference to the fallen soldiers.
- The only line which is not written in dactylic dimeter is ‘Someone had blundered. This is a shorter line (five syllables) which draws attention to it. It emphasises the mistake made by those in charge.
Use of language
The poem contains some biblical references: “Valley of Death” this refers to Psalm 23. This biblical imagery highlights the bravery of the soldiers and the importance of the event.
Psalm 23 was written by King David, and it makes the reader draw comparisons to the battle of David and Goliath. The implication here is that the Light Brigade represent David, and the Russian troops who surrounded them were the Russian army. This image again highlights the bravery of the soldiers.
Tennyson repeats the phrase ‘Theirs not’ in the second stanza. This represents the Victorian culture which was very hierarchical. The soldiers would not have been able to challenge the orders of those in charge, despite them knowing they were heading towards probable death.
The line ‘All the world wondered’ could have a number of meanings. ‘wonder’ could mean ‘amazed’ in that everyone was amazed at the soldiers bravery. Or, it could mean ‘questioned’, implying that everyone was questioning the ability of those in charge.
Many of the words used in the poem create a sound ‘thundered’, ‘shattered’, ’sundered’. This emphasises the drum-like beat created by the rhythm and further echoes the horses hooves. The ‘ered’ ending of these words subtly brings to mind ‘err’ as in ‘an error’, Again, Tennyson is subtly criticising those in charge.
The refrain in each stanza reflects the number of soldiers. Stanzas 1-3 ‘Rode the six hundred’ becomes ‘Not the six hundred’, Left of six hundred’, ‘Noble six hundred’. This ensures people will remember the number of soldiers involved and their bravery.
Interestingly there are six stanza’s in the poem – one for each 100 soldiers involved in the charge.
Themes and comparisons
If you’re presented with this poem in the exam you will be asked to compare it to one of the other poems from the anthology in some way. You may also decide to use it as the comparison poem. To do this you need to think about the themes that are presented in the poem and which other poems in the anthology have similar themes. We’ve summarised these briefly below.
Reality of War
The poem shows that war is not all about glory.
Compare to:
- Exposure
- War Photographer
- Kamikaze
- Bayonet Charge
- Remains
Affects of War
The poem tells the story of the soldiers riding in to battle and gives the reader an insight into the impact of war.
Compare to:
- Exposure
- War Photographer
- Kamikaze
- Bayonet Charge
- Remains
- Poppies
Identity
Tennyson tries to give a sense of identity to the brave soldiers.
Compare to:
- Exposure
- Tissue
- Kamikaze
- Checkin Out Me History
- Poppies
What next?
We hope you’ve found this analysis useful, but please remember that we all interpret things differently. Just because we’ve read it one way, does not that it can not have an alternative meaning. Remember that when you’re reading it through – you could pick up on something totally different and that’s fine. There is no right or wrong interpretation of a poem – as long as you can analyse and justify why the poem makes you feel a certain way then there are marks to be had in an exam.
We have prepared a PDF summary sheet containing all of the information on this page which you may find useful when revising. Use this when reading the poem again and make your own notes and highlights. You can download it by clicking on the link below.
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Other Resources
This is a list of resources we’ve found really useful as we’ve been researching. Some of these are free, but some are paid resources. Please note that we do not earn any commission if you choose to purchase using the links below. There’s also some more of our resources below for you to download.
- Mr Bruff – he has some great resources on YouTube and through his website mrbuff.com.
- Collins Snap Revision book from Amazon
- PoemAnalysis
- savemyexams
- Tips on how to manage exam stress
- Tips on how to revise