The Charge of the Light Brigade: GCSE poem guide

This is ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from the Power and Conflict cluster of the AQA anthology. I’m Hannah, and I teach English. The question we’ll answer: How does every part of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ turn a military mistake into a story of courage? We’ll go through the context, the poem section by section, one quotation explored closely, a model paragraph, the quotations to learn and which poems to compare it with. First, the context.

The Crimean War. In 1854 Britain was at war with Russia in the Crimea. At the Battle of Balaclava, a mistaken order sent about six hundred cavalrymen of the Light Brigade to charge the Russian guns. News from the front. People in Britain read about the battle in newspaper reports, so Tennyson’s readers already knew the outline of the story before they read his poem.

The Poet Laureate. Tennyson was Poet Laureate, the poet chosen to write for the nation. He wrote ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ only weeks after the battle. A disaster made heroic. The poem admits that someone made a mistake, then moves straight on to the soldiers’ obedience and courage, and ends by telling readers to honour them.

Here’s the poem. Read it with me. Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said.

Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew Someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred. Flashed all their sabres bare, Flashed as they turned in air Sabring the gunners there, Charging an army, while All the world wondered. Plunged in the battery-smoke Right through the line they broke; Cossack and Russian Reeled from the sabre stroke Shattered and sundered. Then they rode back, but not Not the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well Came through the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred. When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wondered. Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred! Lines 1 to 8: Into the valley. “Half a league, half a league,”. Repetition in a falling dactylic rhythm (one stressed syllable, two unstressed) that sounds like galloping hooves. The poem starts at full speed.

“All in the valley of Death”. A metaphor: the valley belongs to Death, written with a capital letter as if Death were a person waiting for them. The reader knows the danger at once. “Charge for the guns!”. he said.” The order comes from an unnamed “he”.

Writing for the nation weeks after Balaclava, Tennyson gives the order and moves on without naming any officer. “Rode the six hundred.”. The men are named only by their number, so they ride as one body. The reader sees a united group, all equally brave. Lines 9 to 17: The blunder.

“Was there a man dismayed?”. A rhetorical question with the answer no. Tennyson wants the reader to see that not one soldier lost his nerve. “Someone had blundered.”. At Balaclava a mistaken order sent the brigade at the guns.

The pronoun “Someone” admits the error to readers who knew the story, but blames no one. “Theirs not to make reply,”. Anaphora: “Theirs” opens three lines in a row in a short, firm beat, like a drill. The repeated negatives leave the soldiers no voice and no choice. “Theirs but to do and die.”.

Alliteration ties “do” to “die”: duty leads straight to death. The reader admires their obedience and may also feel uneasy that they had to die for a mistake. Lines 18 to 26: Surrounded by cannon. “Cannon to right of them,”. Three lines begin with “Cannon”, one for each side.

The structure traps the men on the page as the guns trap them in the valley. “Stormed at with shot and shell,”. Sibilance and the verbs “Volleyed and thundered” make the gunfire sound like a storm, a force of nature the men cannot stop. “Into the jaws of Death,”. Metaphor: Death is a beast with “jaws” and a “mouth”, and the riders go straight in.

The parallel lines speed them towards it. “Boldly they rode and well,”. In the middle of the gunfire Tennyson stops to praise them. The adverbs “Boldly” and “well” ask the reader to see skill and courage, whatever the odds. Lines 27 to 38: At the guns.

“Shattered and sundered.”. Two violent past participles joined by sibilance. The sound breaks apart like the enemy line it describes. Lines 39 to 49: The ride back. “Cannon behind them”.

Stanza 3 returns with one change: “behind” replaces “in front of”. The same structure carries the men back through the guns. “While horse and hero fell.”. The noun “hero” turns every man who falls into a hero. Tennyson asks the reader to grieve and admire at once.

“Came through the jaws of Death,”. The metaphor of stanza 3 is repeated, but “Into” becomes “through” and “Back from”. The survivors have passed through death and out again. “Left of six hundred.”. Tennyson never says how many came back.

Readers who had followed the newspaper reports already knew that many had not. And lines 50 to 55. “When can their glory fade?”. A rhetorical question that expects the answer never. The poem moves from the battle to how the men will be remembered.

“O the wild charge they made!”. An exclamation opened by “O”. The adjective “wild” suggests both thrilling daring and recklessness. “Honour the Light Brigade,”. Imperative verbs: “Honour” opens two lines and commands the reader directly.

The poem ends by telling us what to feel. So, to sum it up in one sentence: Tennyson admits that someone blundered, then uses a galloping rhythm, the repeated “six hundred” and commands to honour the men, so readers feel pride in the soldiers’ obedience and courage more than anger at the mistake. One quotation, explored closely: “Theirs not to reason why”. Try it yourself first: method, zoom in, effect, and the context or purpose. Method: Repetition at the start of three lines in a row, in a short, firm rhythm.

Zoom in: “reason” means to think and question. The soldiers do not question the order; their duty is to obey. Effect: The reader admires their obedience, and may also feel uneasy that they rode to death without asking why. Context: Tennyson was Poet Laureate, writing weeks after the Battle of Balaclava for a public who read newspaper reports of it. He praises the men and says little about who gave the order.

And here’s a model What–How–Why paragraph for the question: How does Tennyson present the soldiers of the Light Brigade as heroes? Tennyson presents the soldiers as heroes whose courage matters more than the mistake that killed them. He admits in one short line that someone had blundered, then turns at once to the men: “Theirs not to reason why” and “Theirs but to do and die”. The dactylic rhythm carries them forward, and the metaphor “Into the jaws of Death” makes the Russian guns a monster that they ride into anyway. The final stanza becomes commands to the reader: “Honour the Light Brigade”.

Tennyson was Poet Laureate, writing weeks after the Battle of Balaclava for a public who had read newspaper reports of the battle. He wants readers to mourn and admire the men, and the closing “Noble six hundred” turns a blunder into a story of glory. The quotations from ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ worth learning by heart. “Someone had blundered”. Tennyson admits the mistake, then moves straight on to the soldiers’ courage.

“Theirs not to reason why”. Obedience is praised, and the reader may question it. In our scheme, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is compared with ‘Bayonet Charge’. The question: How do Tennyson and Hughes present soldiers in the moment of battle? In the exam you choose your own second poem, so have two or three ready for each theme.

Everything in this video comes from our Power and Conflict poetry scheme of learning for schools. If you’re a teacher, Lesson 3 of every scheme is free at btl.education. Thank you for watching.