Power and Conflict Poetry: "Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

This section of the Power and Conflict poems revision guide examines Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade," a poem that explores themes of conflict, suffering, the reality of war, and patriotism.

Published just six weeks after a disastrous battle in the Crimean War, the poem describes a cavalry charge against Russian forces. Despite being lightly armed, the British cavalry faced cannon fire from three sides of a long valley. Of the 600 soldiers who began the charge, over half were killed, injured, or taken prisoner.

Context: As Poet Laureate, Tennyson had a responsibility to inspire the nation and portray the war in a positive light, effectively serving as propaganda.

The poem celebrates the soldiers' courage and devotion to their country, symbolizing the might of the British Empire. Tennyson uses powerful language to convey the intensity of the battle:

• Biblical imagery: "Into the valley of Death" portrays war as a supremely powerful or spiritual experience
• Personification: "jaws of Death" and "mouth of Hell" present war as a consuming animal
• Glorifying language: "Honour the Light Brigade/Noble six hundred" elevates the soldiers to a celebrated and prestigious group
• Sibilance: "shot and shell" creates the whooshing sounds of battle

Quote: "Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred"

The poem's structure is significant:

• It's a ballad, a form traditionally used to remember historical events
• Six verses represent the 600 men who took part in the charge
• The first stanza is tightly structured, mirroring the cavalry formation, while later stanzas become more chaotic, reflecting the battle's disorder
• Dactylic dimeter (e.g., "HALF-a league / DUM-de-de") mimics the sound of galloping horses and increases the poem's pace

Vocabulary: Dactylic dimeter - A metrical pattern in poetry consisting of two dactyls per line, where a dactyl is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

Interestingly, while Tennyson glorifies the soldiers, he also subtly criticizes the leadership with the line "Someone had blunder'd," a controversial statement in Victorian times when blind devotion to authority was expected.

Power and Conflict Poetry: "Remains" by Simon Armitage

This section of the Power and Conflict poems GCSE guide focuses on Simon Armitage's poem "Remains," exploring its themes of conflict, suffering, and the reality of war.

The poem was written to accompany a TV documentary about soldiers returning from war with PTSD. It's based on the experiences of Guardsman Tromans, who fought in Iraq in 2003. The speaker describes the haunting aftermath of shooting a looter dead in Iraq, illustrating how mental suffering can persist long after physical conflict ends.

Highlight: The poem's title, "Remains," carries a double meaning, referring both to the physical remains of the victim and the lingering psychological effects on the speaker.

Armitage employs various linguistic techniques to convey the speaker's trauma:

• Colloquial language: "Legs it up the road" creates an authentic voice
• Dehumanizing imagery: "Then he's carted off in the back of a lorry" reduces humanity to waste or cattle
• Metaphor: "he's here in my head when I close my eyes / dug in behind enemy lines" portrays PTSD as an ongoing internal war
• Allusion: "his bloody life in my bloody hands" references Macbeth, drawing parallels to another warrior suffering from guilt and PTSD

Quote: "his bloody life in my bloody hands"

The poem's structure reinforces its themes:

• It's presented as a monologue in the present tense, mimicking a flashback (a symptom of PTSD)
• The first four stanzas are set in Iraq, while the last three depict the aftermath at home
• Enjambment between lines and stanzas creates a conversational tone and fast pace, especially when describing the killing
• Repetition of "Probably armed, possibly not" emphasizes the speaker's guilt and bitterness

Vocabulary: Enjambment - The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next without a pause