THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT

BRIGADE
BY
ALFRED, LORD
TENNYSON

SUMMARY OF THE
The poem tells the story of a brigade
consisting of 600 soldiers who rode
POEM
on horseback into the valley of death for half a league (about one and
a half miles). They were obeying a command to charge the enemy forces
that had been seizing their guns.
Not a single soldier was discouraged or distressed by the command to
charge forward, even though all the soldiers realized that their
commander had made a terrible mistake: Someone had blundered.
The role of the soldier is to obey and not to make reply...not to reason
why, so they followed orders and rode into the valley of death.
The 600 soldiers were assaulted by the shots of shells of canons in front
and on both sides of them. Still, they rode courageously forward toward
their own deaths: Into the jaws of Death / Into the mouth of hell / Rode
the six hundred.

The soldiers struck the enemy gunners with their unsheathed

swords (sabres bare) and charged at the enemy army while
the rest of the world looked on in wonder. They rode into the
artillery smoke and broke through the enemy line, destroying
their Cossack and Russian opponents. Then they rode back
from the offensive, but they had lost many men so they were
not the six hundred any more.
Canons behind and on both sides of the soldiers now
assaulted them with shots and shells. As the brigade rode
back from the mouth of hell, soldiers and horses collapsed;
few remained to make the journey back.
The world marvelled at the courage of the soldiers; indeed,
their glory is undying: the poem states these noble 600 men
remain worthy of honor and tribute today.

STANZA 1
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.

The light calvary was marching to

the Valley of Death because the
foes were no match for them. It
was like committing suicide. They
were 600 of them riding horses
figthing in a battle. Their leader
ordered them to move forward
and consficate the guns to
prevent the guns from being
carried away by the enemies.

STANZA 2
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

The soldiers were still moving

foward. No one was
discouraged by the fact that
somebody had made a foolish
mistake by giving them a
wrong order. They were not in
the position to answer any
questions nor to ask why. They
kept on moving because it was
their responsibility and they
recieved order from their
superior. Even if the were fated
to die, all the six hundred of

STANZA 3
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and
shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

The soldiers bravely fought the battle. They were attacked

from their right, their left but they still moved forward. True
enough, they were also attacked from the front. But they
marched fearlessly to the Valley of Death and fought until
their last breaths.

THEME

WARFARE
Warfare is probably the #1
theme here. Ultimately,
"The Charge of the Light
Brigade" is a poem about a
battle. It spends a lot of
time describing the
confusion, the terror, the
bloodshed, and, yes, also
the heroism and
excitement of armed
combat. Notice that most
of the images and
descriptions in the poem
relate to warfare: cannon,
bullets, smoke, sabres, etc

COURAGE
There's no question that the
Light Brigade has guts. Every
last one of them (according to
Tennyson) charges forward to
the enemy line and does his
job. Tennyson makes sure to
point out that they know
exactly how dangerous and
hopeless the job is, but they
stand up and do it anyway.
"The Charge of the Light
Brigade" is about war, but we
think its message is about the
heroism of ordinary, nameless
soldiers.

DEATH
The tragedy here is that many of the
brave soldiers in the Light Brigade
die in this battle. Tennyson doesn't
say how many, and he doesn't go
into gory details. Still, death is
everywhere in this poem. It's a
constant presence, almost like a
character. The valley where the
charge takes place belongs to
"Death"; we hear all about his jaws,
and so forth. Death is almost a
physical presence in "The Charge of
the Light Brigade," something you
could see and touch, like the Grim
Reaper.

DUTY
The men in the Light Brigade
are just doing their job; they're
soldiers and it's their duty to
fight. That's the core of what
makes them appealing and
heroic, but it's also the thing
that makes their deaths tragic.
The Brigade doesn't need to
go on a suicide mission and
charge their enemies (some
commander seems to have
given a bad order), and the
Brigade knows that, but they
do it anyway. That's the code
of a soldier, and it's definitely
what Tennyson is celebrating
here the last word in loyalty,
in living up to your promises.

RESPECT AND
REPUTATION
Tennyson doesn't write "The
Charge of the Light Brigade"
because it's a good story, or
because he just thinks you'd
be kind of interested. He
wants to accomplish
something specific. He wants
the memory of the anonymous
men of the Light Brigade to
live forever. You know what?
It worked. We guarantee that
you would never have heard
about the Light Brigade in the
Crimean War if it weren't for
this poem, and now you're
part of the tradition of
remembering these men.

MORAL
VALUES

We should be
brave in
defending
our country.

Appreciate
the peace
that we
have.
Sometimes,
it is good to
ask
questions

END OF SLIDE. THANK

YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION. PLEASE BE
GRATEFUL FOR THE
WORLD PEACE.
CAPTAIN YOO SI JIN,
SALUTE!!!