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The Charge of The Light
The Charge of The Light
Source : http://www.apache.be
The Charge of the Light Brigade
BY LORD ALFRED TENNYSON
I
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.
II
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
event that happened during the Battle of Balaclava that occured on 25 October
1854 in the Cremean War between the British and the Russian. As the name
suggests, the Light Brigade was supposed to pursue a retreating Russion artelliry
battery, a task well-suited to a light calvary. However, due to miscommunication in
the chain of command, the Light Brigade was sent on a frontal assault against the
more well-prepared artelliry battery specialised in defensive fire.
Adapted from : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade
THE POET
6,000-line epic poem. His father, the Reverend George Tennyson, tutored his sons in
classical and modern languages. In the 1820s, however, Tennysons father began to
suffer frequent mental breakdowns that were exacerbated by alcoholism. One of
Tennysons brothers had violent quarrels with his father, a second was later
confined to an insane asylum, and another became an opium addict.
Tennyson escaped home in 1827 to attend Trinity College, Cambridge. In that same
year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. Although the
poems in the book were mostly juvenilia, they attracted the attention of the
Apostles, an undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam. The Apostles
provided Tennyson, who was tremendously shy, with much needed friendship and
confidence as a poet. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends; they toured
Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832. Hallams sudden death in 1833 greatly
affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of Tennysons other
poems are tributes to Hallam.
Source : http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/lord-alfred-tennyson
VOCABULARY
WORD
League
Valley
MEANING
in the position to answer any questions nor to ask why. They kept on moving
because it was their responsibility and they recieved order from their superior. Even
if the were fated to die, all the six hundred of them were still moving forward.
Stanza 3
The soldiers bravely fought the battle. They were attacked from their right, their left
but they still moved forward. True enough, they were also attacked from the front.
But they marched fearlessly to the Valley of Death and fought until their last
breaths.
MORAL VALUES
We should be brave in defending our country.
Appreciate the peace that we have.
Sometimes, it is good to ask questions.