The poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" uses imagery and figurative language to create the tone of exhilaration and the theme of honouring the qualities of the Light Brigade.
The poem is an allusion to an actual light cavalry brigade who fought against the Russian army in the Crimean War. Throughout the poem, the poet uses strong imagery and metaphors to help describe the dangers that the Brigade faced, which in turn explained the reason to honour the Brigade for their victory. Furthermore, the writer uses the imagery and other figures of speech to set the tone in the poem.In addition, the poets use of rhyme scheme with the repetition of statements and words puts emphasis on certain lines which in turn provides development for the tone. The writer uses imagery, rhyme scheme, and other poetic devices to help display the theme and tone of the poem.
He uses a third person point of view, most probably a male because of the gender biases in the 19th century that women should not be on the battlefield when the battle took place, to tell the tale of the light cavalry division, called the Light Brigade.The Brigade travelled deep into Russian territory, which was communicated by the poet saying "Half a league / half a league", and fought the Russian army. They had to travel through artillery fire and then break through the Russian front line. Through close range sword combat the Brigade won the battle and the Russian army retreated. The writer’s goal was to help everyone in general realize and honour the bravery and determination of the soldiers who fought. In the poem itself, though, there is the same repetition of certain lines to provide emphasis on the subject.
An example would be when the poet says "Half a league, half a league / Half a league onward". In the example, the word "league" in this poem is used as a measure of distance and by repeating the statement the writer is trying to illustrate that the soldiers travelled a great distance. In addition, he loves to use enjambment, especially the last two lines in his stanzas, which is determined by the lines "Into the mouth of Hell / Rode the six hundred" and "Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred".Tennyson clearly tries to use the repetition of the same word in his rhyme scheme and dactylic feet in his meter, the repetition of certain phrases to provide emphasis, and enjambment. The theme of the poethey should be honoured.
The poet uses imagery to describe the determination of these soldiers who were "volleyed and thundered / stormed at with shot and shell", but continued to attack the Russians. The bravery of these soldiers is shown by the fact that these soldiers persistency, even though they faced a myriad of dangers.The soldiers charged "while horse and hero fell" and the fact that the Brigade was losing men all around them and they still were victorious shows their strength. In addition, the writer uses the line "charging an army, while / all the world wondered", to show that the "world" is amazed at the bravery of these men who are continuing on. The strength of these soldiers is realized when "right through the line they broke", and started to win the battle.
Next, the soldiers had to deal with cannons and a strong Russian army fought on until "they rode back, but not / Not the six hundred".The theme of the poem was that the commendable qualities of these soldiers, such as bravery, strength, and determination, should be admired and as the writer said it bests "Honour the charge they made! / Honour the Light Brigade". The poet uses imagery, personification, and metaphors to describe the dangers that the British soldiers faced in the battle. First, the entire poem is an illusion to an actual Brigade that fought against Russia in the 19th century.
Second, the writer’s most important use of personification is giving death jaws that would "swallow up" the Brigade.Third, Tennyson frequently uses metaphor such as "jaws of Death" to describe the Russian army, the "valley of Death" to describe the battlefield, and "mouth of Hell" to describe the battle. In addition, the poet uses imagery to describe the violence of the battle from the lines "Reeled from the sabre-stroke / Shattered and sundered". The strong verbs like "reeled", "shattered", and "sundered" gives a clear image of Brigade and Russian forces fighting with their sabres.Finally, in the mind the image of the Brigade avoiding bullets and artillery when the writer describes their rush by using the lines "Volleyed and thundered / Stormed at with shot and shell.
" is vivid and full. By using imagery and other figures of speech, the poet gives a vivid image of the Brigade charging with bullets flying all around them and then fighting the Russian forces with swords and all the other dangers that the Brigade faced. The tone of the poem is that of exhilaration, the heat of the battle.Throughout the poem, he gives examples of dangerous situations and events that the Brigade gets into providing exhilaration to the battle. An example of the exhilaration of the battle was when the Brigade "plunged in the battery-smoke". A battery is a fortification that has heavy weapons to destroy the target and when they plunge into the "battery-smoke" they are plunging into the area where the battery had fired a weapon which is incredibly dangerous and exciting.
The tone of exhileration is that the determination and strength of these soldiers in the face of tremendous danger are admirable qualities and that
