When reading “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Tennyson Alfred, I was a little confused as to whether he was mocking the 600 British soldiers of the Charge of the Light Brigade or if he wrote this poem as tribute to them. After my first read, I thought he was honoring the soldiers commending them for being loyal and fighting on the battlefield, which I thought was made referenced to by the phrase “valley of Death” (16). Alfred finishes the poem with the last few lines saying, “Honor the charge they made! / Honor the Light Brigade, / “Noble six hundred!” (53-55). However, after a second read through, the song-like rhythm of the poem seemed to lighten the tone of the poem as seen in stanzas 3 and 5. This is ironic because if he was truly honoring them, I felt that the poem would have taken a more serious tone and form. After a couple reads, I believe that this poem is more of a satire than a tribute to the British soldiers. 

The poetic diction also adds a comical effect. In line 6, one of the quotes said, “Charge for the guns!” which to me sounds so foolish. These soldiers seem to be carrying swords, referred to as “sabers,” to a gun fight? It seems almost obvious that they are going to lose the battle right from the first stanza. Later on in the poem, he writes that someone “blundered” that no soldier should question or try to make reason of what they are commanded to do, but instead, just do it (12-14). This word means “to utter thoughtlessly; blurt out.”¹ It turned the notion of what the soldier was saying, which was something that could have been applauded for loyalty, obedience, or bravery, into something that now sounds foolish. Especially with the following line saying, “Theirs but to do and die” (15). Obviously, if someone were to be sent on a mission with failure from the start knowing they were going to die, it would make sense for that person to question the logic. Here, the soldiers are misguided to blindly obey orders even when they don’t make logical sense. In the footnote, it says that the British soldiers were given confusing orders which caused them to recklessly be killed by the Russians. If they fully thought about the directions they were given and spoke up instead of just obeying, the charge could have been avoided and there wouldn’t have been so many pointless deaths. The second stanza makes it seem like they were told to march into the “valley of Death” in which anyone could have predicted they were going to lose from the start, but no one questioned it. They just mindlessly obeyed. 

In stanza 4, there is imagery of them waving their swords aimlessly as they “[f]lashed all their sabers bare” (27). This line gives a humorous tone, by making the soldiers look foolish. They were defeated as their sabers were no match for the powerful Russian cannons. In stanza 6, Alfred describes their charge as “wild” which also is an odd word choice for something that is supposed to pay tribute. If this was the case, better words like “brave” or “steadfast” would have been better to praise the actions of the soldiers. Alfred’s true intentions behind the poem seem to be more insulting. 

¹https://www.dictionary.com/browse/blunder