I have to explicate a poem and I would like some help?

Question

Okay the poem is "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Lord Tennyson Alfred. I have to explicate it and I just need some help. I don't want you guys to think that I don't know how to do it because I do know how I just would like a little bit of help. I don't really understand it. So anybody know how to explain it to me?

Answer 1

In his poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” Tennyson describes the valiant charge of the light brigade into the “jaws of death.” He makes use of repetition, allusion, and personification to paint a vivid picture of the charge, and, at the same time, he gives the reader a glimpse into the psyche of the valiant soldiers.

The literary device Tennyson most commonly employs in this poem is repetition, but he also makes use of allusion and personification. In the first stanza he repeats the phrase “half a league” three times in order to convey the arduousness of the charge. It relates the fact that each league gained was a separate feat for the brigade. In the fist stanza he also begins the repetition of “rode the six hundred,” a phrase which emphasizes the small number of valiant soldiers riding against the “mouth of hell” itself. Tennyson also includes the first reference to the “valley of Death” in the first stanza. This reference is continued throughout the poem. It functions as an allusion to the “valley of the shadow of death” in the twenty-third Psalm of the Bible and describes the charge. The allusion to the twenty-third Psalm serves to instil in the reader the sense of fearlessness that the brigade has because the psalm speaks of how evil in not to be feared, not even in the shadow of death itself. The reference to the valley also paints in the reader’s mind an image of being enclosed by greater things on all sides, a feeling no doubt shared by the soldiers. “Canon to the right of them,/ Cannon to the left of them,/ Cannon in front of them” is another repeated phrase in the poem that is found in the third and fifth stanzas of the poem. The repetition of the phrase serves to add to the claustrophobic feeling in the reader that began with the mention of the charge into the valley. It also reminds the reader that the cannon of the enemy are all that can be seen no matter where the valiant soldiers look. Death also becomes personified in the third stanza when Tennyson gives it jaws. The personification of death is meant to shift the poem’s tone to a more carnal tone. The brigade is now pitted against the ultimate beast that threatens devour them. They must now kill or be killed. The “jaws of death” and “mouth of hell” are also repeated images in the poem. They paint a picture of soldiers starring into a black abyss that is about to consume them.

In his poem Tennyson also provides the reader with some insight into the psyche of the men of the brigade. The first glimpse of the soldiers’ state of mind given in the poem comes in the form of the valley of death. The reader is told that the soldiers face certain death, but the phrase, through its biblical allusion, demonstrates to the reader that the evil is face without fear. Tennyson also gives a more direct insight into the psyche of the brigade when he writes that the soldiers knew “Some one had blunder’d,” and that they knew their place was not to question orders but “to do and die.” The reader then knows that these men are blindly motivated by loyalty and a sense of duty. “Cannon to the right of them,/ Cannon to the left of them,/ Cannon in front of them” is another description Tennyson uses to take the reader in to minds of soldiers. This description allows the reader to see the battle as the soldier saw it. No matter where you looked, all that could be seen was certain death. No safety could be found. After being taken into the psyche of the brigade and seeing a vivid picture of the valiant charge the reader cannot hope to do anything but admire the valour of the soldiers and “Honour the Light Brigade.”

Tennyson’s use of literary devices to paint a mental picture of a heroic charge and the insight he gives the reader into the minds of the valiant men who made it make his “Charge of the Light Brigade” a powerful poem. It is a fitting tribute to the soldiers who fought the war that elicited the world’s highest military honour: the Victoria Cross.