The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

First published: 1854; collected in Maud and Other Poems, 1855

Type of poem: Ode

The Poem

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote “The Charge of the Light Brigade” shortly after reading a newspaper article about the futile charge of troops at the 1854 Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War (1853-1856). British and French troops had been sent to the Crimean Peninsula to punish the Russian government for various aggressive and belligerent policies. A newsman for the London Times was on the scene and hinted in his report that the debacle resulted from blunders made by British commanders in the Crimea. In Tennyson’s mind, the questionable behavior of the British generals did not diminish the bravery of the troops who had acted valiantly in carrying out orders. Moved by these acts of valor and perhaps angered by the mismanagement of senior officers, the poet laureate immediately wrote an ode to commemorate the occasion.

In six irregular stanzas, Tennyson describes the movement of the troops down the long valley at Balaklava. Sitting on the ridge at the end of this depression are batteries of Russian artillery, whose fusillade decimated the cavalrymen as they approached. In stanza 1, the commander’s directive to “Charge for the guns” vividly captures the reckless abandon that would lead to disastrous consequences. The reaction of the troops is captured in the second stanza. The poet asks, “Was there a man dismayed?” and immediately responds, “Not though the soldier knew/ Someone had blundered.” Instead, the men of the light brigade ride boldly down the valley, carrying out their orders; “Theirs not to reason why,” the poet says, “Theirs but to do and die.” Like good soldiers, they are willing to follow their leaders’ orders, even though they can see for themselves that the mission is sure to be suicidal.

Stanzas 3, 4, and 5 describe the charge and its aftermath. As the cannons along the hills ringing the valley rain down missiles of destruction, the soldiers advance with sabers unsheathed “Into the jaws of Death,/ Into the mouth of Hell.” Eventually, despite heavy losses, they break through the Russians’ line of defense and slaughter the gunners. The effect of the charge takes its toll on the brigade, however; “Back from the mouth of Hell” a much smaller number of soldiers return to the British lines at the end of the battle.

In the final stanza, Tennyson acknowledges that, though in some ways futile, the charge was a heroic act, and it is the duty of his contemporaries and of ages to come to “Honor the charge they made,/ Honor the Light Brigade.” These men had the courage to carry out orders knowing that to do so would almost certainly result in death. Of such heroism are odes and tragedies made.

Forms and Devices

As in many odes, the stanza pattern of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is irregular. An eight-line opening stanza gives way to two stanzas of nine lines, in which the poet sets the stage for the charge and describes the entry into the valley. The central action of the battle and its aftermath is described in two longer stanzas, of twelve and eleven lines, respectively. The final stanza, only six lines, serves as an epitaph honoring the brave men who sacrificed themselves in serving their country.

The rhyme scheme, too, is irregular. In some stanzas, only two or three lines are rhymed. In others, Tennyson inserts a number of couplets and triplets. The poem may appear to be more regular on first reading, however, because Tennyson skillfully uses repetition and variation to link his six stanzas. The closing phrase “six hundred” is present in every stanza, and in each stanza at least one internal line rhymes with this phrase. These rhyming words, all strong action verbs, capture the key actions of the poem. Someone in leadership “blundered.” Cannons on the rim of the valley “thundered.” When the men of the light brigade break through enemy lines, the Russian and Cossack gunners are “shattered” and “sundered.” Meanwhile, those outside the valley, and indeed “the whole world,” Tennyson says, “wondered” about the outcome of the charge. Since each of the rhyming lines ends with a full stop, the attention of readers is focused on these actions.

As he does in many other poems, Tennyson uses repetition and variation of phrases and even whole lines as a key poetic device. The poem opens with a thrice-repeated phrase so that the effect of the rhythm in the first two lines is to mimic the sound of the charge: “Half a league, half a league,/ Half a league onward” suggests the galloping of the horses charging down the valley. Similarly, in stanzas 3 and 5 the poet creates a sense of the pounding of artillery upon the brigade by varying the lines describing the cannons’ volley: “Cannon to right of them,/ Cannon to left of them,/ Cannon in front of them” all “volleyed and thundered” as the men approach the guns. As the soldiers leave the field, the third line of this triplet is changed to “Cannon behind them,” suggesting that the retreat is as devastating as the charge itself.

Finally, the meter Tennyson uses is particularly appropriate for this poem. Tennyson reported to his son that the newspaper editorial about the Battle of Balaklava, during which this charge took place, had stated that “someone had blundered.” From this he instantly saw that the appropriate meter for the poem was dactylic: a stress syllable followed by two unstressed ones. The powerful suggestion led him to use what has traditionally been a meter associated with epic. Tennyson produces lines that are predominantly dactylic, with key stops written as spondees, two-syllable feet. The effect is similar to the dactylic hexameters used by both Homer and Virgil. Readers familiar with classical epic will find echoes of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (both c. 800 b.c.e.; Eng. trans., 1616) and Vergil’s Aeneid (c. 29-19 b.c.e.; Eng. trans., 1553) in Tennyson’s tribute to the brave men who charged down the valley at Balaklava.