"The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Charge of the Light Brigade

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 dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

There's not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

I was really excited to see this poem because it was one of my favorite's that I read back in high school. I recall reading it both in my literature and history class. This poem tells the story of the first military attack in the Crimean War, which was fought by the Russian Empire and the allied forces of France, Great Britain, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. I enjoy this poem because not only is history one of my favorite subjects, but because of it's flowing rhyme scheme. My favorite lines are, "Theirs not to make reply, there's not to reason why, there's but to do and die." It's a tragic story, yes, but most importantly it depicts the courage, dignity and fearlessness of the "noble six hundred." The soldiers didn't pose any questions or protest despite the fact that their commander had made a mistake; they rode onward anyway "into the valley of death", and very many were killed.

This poem has a dactylic rhythm - that is, each stressed syllable has two unstressed syllables right after it. Also, throughout the poem Tennyson repeats phrases and sometimes words, such as "Forward, the Light Brigade!" and "into the valley of Death." These repetitions give the poem more emphasis and a stronger tone. Below is a short clip I found from the movie "The Blind Side" that talks about the poem. :)