"The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Lord Alfred Tennyson

     Lord Alfred Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England on August 6th, 1809 and died on October 6th, 1892 in Lugarshall, Sussex, England. He was born middle class, but had noble and royal ancestry. He was married and had two children. He became a Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during the reign of Queen Victoria.
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.

2.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
 Someone had blunder'd:
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.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
 Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
 Rode the six hundred.

4.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
 All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
 Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
 Not the six hundred.

5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
 Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
 Left of six hundred.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
 All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
 Noble six hundred.

     In this masterpiece crafted by Lord Tennyson we see him describing a battle that took place between the British Light Brigade and the Russian Army at that time, in which 600 cavalry attacked 20 Russian battalions. Due to lack of communication the British were destroyed. Lord Tennyson somehow crafts this poem to seem like a charge itself with the tone of the poem going from low gallantry to high gallantry and then falling off into a more depressing tone. This drop is because of the result of the battle: the British being destroyed. The tone also speaks to the ideas Tennyson is trying to convey. These ideas include the respect he has for the men that charged into certain death, they also address his contempt for the British command. The tone is mournful, because as Poet Laureate he basically writes for the country he was selected to be the Laureate of, however it also conveys the thoughts of a country and the thoughts of those at this time were ones of anger at British command and respect and humbleness, because of the sacrifice of those 600 soldiers. The meter in this poem is dactyl and is stressed in the beginning and middle of the sentence which also could be described as the story of the battle itself, the high action of riding into battle being stressed first, then death which is a low point, then the return of the survivors, and the low point of the story they would later describe. you can see this meter especially in the line "Someone had blundered", in this sentence "some" and "blun" are the stressed. Rhyme scheme is a bit more complicated:
Forward, the Light Brigade!" (A)

Was there a man dismayed? (A)

Not though the soldier knew (B)

Someone had blundered. (C)

Theirs not to make reply, (D)

Theirs not to reason why, (D)

Theirs but to do and die. (D)

Into the valley of Death (E)

Rode the six hundred. (C)

the only connection I could find here is that the rhyme is grouped with the certain aspects it addresses. For example all the sentences that start with "theirs" end in words that rhyme together. Whether this is coincidence or not is hard to discern. I find it funny that such great works come from such great tragedies. Weird, right?