GCSE War Poem :: English Literature

GCSE War Poem â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† and â€Å"For the Fallen†, are both poems about war. â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† written by Alfred Tennyson on 14th November 1854, describes an event in the Crimean war. Britain and France were concerned that Russia may power southwards, so they attacked Russia at Balaclava. â€Å"For the Fallen,† was written by Laurence Binyon on September 1914, during the war with the intention of showing the reader the reality of war, in particular, Binyon takes a non-biased approach, demonstrating positive and negative consequences, of dying for one’s country. The two poems are similar because in both, the soldiers are brave and prepared when going to war and portray the soldiers as heroes. The differences are â€Å"For the Fallen† was written in the past tense and â€Å"Charge of the Light Brigade† is written in the present. In addition, Tennyson’s poem has a lot of action in it but Binyon’s poem is a view of soldiers after they die. â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† is about 600 men who charged into an ambush of Russian and Cossack cannons. This happened because the commander mistook orders and told the men to charge into the Russian main base. Over two-thirds of the soldiers die, while in the midst of battle. Binyon’s poem is about men who all die in war. Binyon compares their lives to what they would be like if they had lived and how their deaths are regarded by other people. The first stanza of Tennyson’s poem creates an image of horses galloping forward: â€Å"Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward† Repetition reflects exhaustion because it is laborious. The next line tells the reader that the Light Brigade are the ones who are going to be defeated: â€Å"All in the valley of death†, By using a metaphor, which exaggerates a point, Tennyson is emphasising the fact that they are going to lose. The poet shows how he feels towards the soldiers. He is feeling bravery and stupidity for the Light Brigade. Bravery because no soldier turned back and rode away and no one questioned the command, â€Å"Charge for the guns†. He shows the stupidity by repeating â€Å"Valley of death†, because the soldiers are riding to death and Tennyson is commenting on the lack of questioning to an irrational command. In stanza three, the Light Brigade are in the peak of battle. Repetition of â€Å"Cannon† all around them creates a picture of an ambush. In the next two lines the cannons are firing fiercely. Tennyson uses alliteration to emphasize the impact the cannons are having. â€Å"Stormed at with shot ad shell†