Chandler Brand
Vernon
English 1302.02
1/30/16
The Charge Of The Light Brigade
“Half a league, Half a league, Half a league onward..” (Tennyson 3) those words begin one of the most powerful poems ever written. Written in 1854, depicting the advancement of infantry into battle, the six hundred men charging into a fight not knowing the outcome. The connotation of this poem gives a feeling of courage in the fact that these six hundred men charged into battle even though they knew their commander had made a mistake. They followed their orders and did not question those in higher rank knowing they might not come back.
This poem, according to the time period, depicts the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War between 1853 and 1856. Russia, battling against England, France, Turkey and Sardinia, involving rights to the minority group of Christians in the Holy Land. Controlled by the Ottoman Empire at the time, though the decline of the Empire was beginning, and the unwillingness of England and France to allow Russia to acquire land at Ottoman expense, was the main cause of the war. Russia ended up losing the war, with the Treaty of Paris on March 30, 1856, causing many Ottoman
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Though the blunder of a commanding officer is a big part of the story, the person who blundered was not mentioned again after the first stanza. Courage is a difficult thing to explain, having the strength to do the right thing even if no one is watching. That's what courage looks like, these men did what they were instructed to do and did not complain or question. They had faith in what their commanding officers were telling them to do and trusted the plans even though they knew what they were up against. “Theres not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die, into the valley of death rode the 600…” (Tennyson