5.6 ENC

Poem 1

Poem 2

Poem

The charge of the light Brigade

Dulce et Decorum Est

Author

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Wilfred Owen

Poem Topic

War and military heroism

War and combat harsh reality

Year Written/

Literary Period

1854 during Victorian period

1917-1918 during World War I era -Modern Period

Poem Text

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,

   Theirs but to do and die.

   Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

III

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

   Rode the six hundred.

IV

Flashed all their sabres bare,

Flashed as they turned in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

   All the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right through the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reeled from the sabre stroke

   Shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back, but not

   Not the six hundred.

V

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

Came through the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

   Left of six hundred.

VI

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

   All the world wondered.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

   Noble six hundred!

(Lord Tennyson, 1854)

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie:  Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

(Owen, 1918).

Author's Tone/Perspective

The author presents war as honorable, celebrating soldiers’ bravery and sacrifice from a respectful bystander perspective.

His tone is a mixed of sorrow, admiration and a bit of war leadership critique.

The authors’ perspective is the trauma of world war I soldiers, presented is a tone that shift from being weary and pitiful to angry or bitter.

Evidence to Support the Author's Tone/Perspective

Use of heroic diction such as “noble six hundred”, and “Honor the light brigade”, praise and celebrate the solders (Lord Tennyson, 1854).

Phrases such as “Into the mouth of hell”, “into the jaw of death” present sympathetic or sorrowful tone, while stating that “Someone hand blundered” draws focus to leadership error or critique (Lord Tennyson, 1854).

In the beginning, the author presents a picture of exhausted men, describing the soldiers as “bend double, like old beggars under sacks,” (Owen, 1918).

His tone becomes more angry and bitter in the final stanza as he criticizes the belief that dying in war is glorious.

Theme of Poem

Duty, honor, courage and patriotism of the soldiers who sacrifice themselves for greater cause regardless of the battlefield horrors.

The reality of war is devastating and not something to be romanticized as honorable and glorious.