The Charge Of The Light Brigade Essay

The Charge of the Light Brigade by the English Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland Alfred, Lord Tennyson recounts the Battle of Balaclava between the British and the Russian Empire, which took place during the Crimean War. The poem contemplates the greatness of dying while serving ones’ country, and the mismanagement of the British Government Army. In 1854 Britain and France were in war with Russia for the region of Crimea, from here we get name of the Crimean War. The poem is inspired by one of the greatest calamities of the British military history: the massacre of the British Light Cavalry Brigade composed by 627 men, who charged against a Russian army of more than 2000 soldiers. At the same time, the recent development of the electric

While the poem glorifies and honours the members of the Light Brigade and considers them heroes for dying for their nation, it also subtly suggests the bad decision making of the British Government, for taking part in a clear condemned battle against the Russian Empire, where hundreds of lives were lost. The failure of the battle appears throughout the text with the repetition of the term “Death” and by the use of different literary devices which remind the soldiers' impossible situation to act according to their moral, as they had to obey the Government’s decisions. From my point of view, Tennyson describes the magnitude of the consequences resulting from the bad management of the British Government by using the figures of the six hundred men, who despite being obedient and brave, lost their lives protecting their nation like heroes. Like Wilfred Owen says in his poem “Dulce et Decorum est/ Pro patria mori”, it is a great and wonderful honour to fight and die in a battle to if you are defending your country. Therefore, the charge is presented as a bungled operation order by the use of morbid language and literary devices that accentuate the abruptness of the orders given to the Light