The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one 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.

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.

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.

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.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

  

Some thoughts…

On this Poem: Written in 1854, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ commemorates the tragic deaths of the British soldiers who fought in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. It would naturally have fallen to Tennyson to immortalize the death as he was England’s Poet Laureate at the time.

Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Into the Valley of Death, indeed. The Light Brigade had been charged with achieving an impossible objective, and all the odds were against it. Why this foolhardy gesture?

tho' the soldier knew
Some one 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.

Someone had certainly blundered. Somewhere down the chain of command, the original order was either miscommunicated, or misunderstood. The result was that more than a third of the Light Brigade lost their lives on a suicidal mission.


Long after the Battle of Balaclava turned into a footnote in history, Tennyson’s stirring poem captures the heroism of every soldier who lays his life on the line. That would make it the moral imperative of the rest of us to challenge the ill-considered motives of those who would too easily put them in harm’s way.


It looks like we’re going to have a sunny Memorial Day week-end, and before I start enjoying it, there’s something I shouldn’t forget to say. To our veterans and to our active service personnel – thank you.