Swans


 

The Charge of the Light Brigade

by Alfred, Lord 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 dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
      Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's 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
      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.


                  IV

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.


                  V

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.


                  VI

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
      All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
      Noble six hundred.


 
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Poetry on Swans

 

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) was a popular British poet of the Victorian era. See a brief biography on the Victorian Web site. Source: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poems, ed. Hallam Lord Tennyson and annotated by Alfred Lord Tennyson, (Publisher: Macmillan, London, 1908), II, p. 225-27. According to Tennyson, "This poem (written at Farringford, and published in The Examiner, Dec. 9, 1854) was written after reading the first report of the Times correspondent, where only 607 sabres are mentioned as having taken part in this charge (Oct. 25, 1854). Drayton's Agincourt was not in my mind; my poem is dactylic, and founded on the phrase, 'Some one had blundered.' At the request of Lady Franklin I distributed copies among our soldiers in the Crimea and the hospital at Scutari. The charge lasted only twenty-five minutes. I have heard that one of the men, with the blood streaming from his leg, as he was riding by his officer, said, 'Those d--d heavies will never chaff us again,' and fell down dead." (p. 369).

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Published April 12, 2004
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