The Charge of The Light Brigade - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Omniscient narrator

Conceals the fact that the poet is criticising those in command.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Poet Laureate so couldn't openly criticise.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Based on a battle in the Crimean war in which there was a mix up in communication between the army generals. Also, the war marked the beginning of press coverage and news reporting so the public were outraged by what they saw.

In Media Res

Starts in the middle of the action conveying the chaos of conflict.

"Half a league, half a league, half a league onward"

Slow dactylic rhythm mirrors the military march helping the reader to emerge themselves in the conflict and empathise with the soldiers. Alternatively it suggests that the soldiers were hypnotised into war.

"All in the valley of Death"

Biblical allusion from Psalms written when King David was depressed therefore reflecting the bleak surroundings.

"Into the valley of Death"

Capital 'D' personifies death. It makes the valley belong to death.

"Forward the Light Brigade!"

Exclamatory command repeated from the previous stanza gives us understanding of the constant orders that are forced upon the soldiers.

"Was there a man dismayed?"

Rhetorical question makes the reader think deeply about the soldiers' feelings but also suggests that the poet is questioning the leadership as the poor soldiers could not.

"Some one had blunder'd"

Breaks dactylic dimeter of the poem which emphasises the magnitude of the mistake and draws the reader's attention to it.

"Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die"

The syntactic parallelism creates a hypnotic rhythm illustrating how the soldiers have been set into trance to blindly follow commands.

"Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them"

Use of symploce (epistrophe and anaphora used in conjunction) helps in creating a profound image of the battle scene. The use onomatopoeia in the 'c' sound helps visualise the cannons as air is released when the word is said.

"Into the jaws of Death"

An alteration in the previously used phrase 'into the valley of Death' showing the action intensifying and the inevitability of death growing.

"All the world wonder'd"

Everyone was in awe of how such a mistake was made

"Ered"

"blunder'd", "wonder'd", "thunder'd" all repeat the 'ered' syllable which the sounds the lexis erred meaning to make an error. This is a subtle reminder of the mistake that was made.