The Charge of the Light Brigade

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1854

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The Charge of the Light Brigade” contains 55 lines divided into six stanzas of varying lengths. The lines are even, employing dactylic dimeter, or two dactyls per line, which each contain a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones. For example, “They that had fought so well / Came through the jaws of Death, / Back from the mouth of hell” (Lines 45-47). This meter gives a sense of ordered movement or forward motion. This regimented beat also suggests military marching or the gallop of horses, which adds to the atmosphere. The plentiful rhymes that run through the work are rather unpredictable in terms of scheme, varying with each stanza. This helps to create a sense of overwhelm or bombardment, which mirrors the unpredictably of warfare despite its seemingly planned maneuvers. The deliberate repetitions of lines and the use of both anaphora (repeating phrases at the beginning of successive lines) as well as epistrophe (repeated phrases at the end of lines) mimic the cyclical action and feeling of being surrounded. Thus, the speaker’s use of rhyme, repetition, and meter copy the sounds and actions on the battlefield, suggesting that the brigade’s demise is both arbitrary and inevitable.

Anaphora and Epistrophe to Enhance the War Experience

The use of anaphora and epistrophe is used throughout the poem to give the reader the overwhelming sensation of the soldiers’ experience. This collective experience is first stressed when the speaker imagines why the soldiers did not protest their fate: “Theirs not to make reply, / Theirs not to reason why / Theirs but to do and die” (Lines 13-15). They cannot resist their commander. However, anaphora is combined with epistrophe to fully capture the severe danger that surrounds the men on all sides: “Cannon to right of them, / Cannon to left of them, / Cannon in front of them” (Lines 18-20). This technique stresses three things: the multiplicity of the cannon, that those cannons are positioned on three sides, and the men themselves as the focus for the fire. Deceptively simple on the surface, this use of poetic technique aligns readers’ sympathies with the vulnerable men. This is enhanced further by the anaphoric notation that they are going “Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of hell” (Lines 24-25). They aren’t just vulnerable, once inside the battle, they are going to be consumed. This would not have been as effective without the use of anaphora and epistrophe.

The Consonance of “R”

Critics agree that Tennyson had a gift for musicality, which can be seen in “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Its heavy reliance on the consonance of r creates an underlying rumbling that mimics the sound of cannon fire and clashing swords. This is on display particularly in Stanza 4 as the speaker depicts the height of battle. As the brigade “plunged in the battery-smoke / right through the line they broke” (Lines 32-33), the sound of r is prominent. It continues as “Cossack and Russian / Reeled from the sabre stroke / Shattered and sundered” (Lines 34-36), giving us the aural sensation of the ripping of uniforms and the clatter of steel against steel. In the background, the cannons “thundered” (Line 42), while the men are “stormed” (Line 43) until “horse and hero” (Line 44) topple. Here the deliberate use of words that contain the consonant r add to the overall effect and help the atmospheric nature of the poem.