War Poetry :: English Literature

War PoetryAlfred Tennyson and Wilfred Owen presend different ideas slightly war intheir poems, The Charge of the Light group and Dulce et Decorumest. Write about these poems and their effect on you.The Charge of the Light Brigade was written by Alfred, LordTennyson, about The Battle of Balaclava which took place in 1854.Tennyson wrote the poem using information from an article in The Timesand it remembers the bravery of the outnumbered cavalry men who were molestly sent into contend.Dulce et Decorum est was written by Wilfred Owen during the FirstWorld War. It was written to show the truth about war and toillustrate that it is not a good occasion to die for your country.The Charge of the Light Brigade has half a dozen verses. The third, fourthand fifth stanzas concentrate on the battle itself. The main part ofthe battle is depicted in verse four and tells how the soldiers weresabring the gunners and how Cossack and Russian reeled portrayingthe victory of the Light Brigade. The f inal stanza is a message fromthe poet to honour the Light Brigade and not to forget what the sixhundred men did.The poem has a constant rhyming pattern all the way through with wordslike blundered, hundred, thundered and wondered or scale of measurement,fell and well. Having this rhyming pattern throughout makes thepoem seem to flow more easily and gives it a more prominent structure.It emulates the pace of the battle which was over in twenty minutes.The rhythm of The Charge of the Light Brigade mimics the sound ofhorses hooves by using tripling such as half a league, half aleague, half a league onward the sound of galloping horses iscontinued when the poet uses words like volleyed and thundered.Tennyson draws attention to the fact that The Battle of Balaclava was whiz of the biggest military blunders ever made in his poem by writingInto the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell showing that to sendthe Light Brigade into battle was wrong and that hardly any of themwould return.In v erse two the poet informs the reader that the soldiers knew that amistake had been made plainly followed the orders anyway. The linesTheirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to doand die show that the soldiers could not refuse to go into battle,even if they knew someone had blundered, all they had to do was gointo battle and die.Tennyson shows admiration for the Light Brigade in his poem.