The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Charge of the Light Brigade

BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) is probably the most famous of all English poets, and during the time he lived he was one of the most famous people in England. After overcoming family problems and setbacks Tennyson became official poetic spokesman for the reign of Victoria. This is one of his most famous poems.

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 dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

   Someone had blundered.

   Theirs not to make reply,

   Theirs not to reason why,

   Theirs 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

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed 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

Flashed all their sabres bare,

Flashed as they turned in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

   All the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right through the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reeled from the sabre stroke

   Shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back, but not

   Not the six hundred.

V

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

Came through 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.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

   Noble six hundred!

Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem does not have a set meter, though it contains iambic trimeter and dactylic trimeter. A set meter in this poem is very appropriate considering the context of the poem. The audience can picture the six hundred marching to their deaths as they read it. The speaker seems as though he is apart from the action, only observing from afar. In the first stanza, the speaker mentions the valley of Death, and I get the impression the speaker is watching from the top of the valley as he hears the six hundred members of the light brigade march, charge, and eventually die. The vivid imagery and repetition used in the poem may have been what made this poem so famous and well-received. It is also quite motivational and relatable to the audience as well. At times we all face adversity that seems unable to be overcome. "When can their glory fade?... Honour the charge they made... Noble six hundred!" The speaker here recognizes the bravery with which the six hundred fought and the sacrifice they made. And like the six hundred, we will not be judged or remember based on the adversity we faced, but how we reacted, resisted, and overcame it. The meter adds to the affect of a set rhythm, whether of the marching of the soldiers or the beating of their hearts as they marched toward their deaths. The tone of praise toward the men makes it seem that maybe what they did was worth something to someone, which may be all they ever wanted.

Marks Analysis Linda Pastan

Marks - Linda Pastan (1932-present)

Linda Pastan was raised in New York City and now lives outside of Washington, D.C. She is known for her poetry about marriage, parenting, and grief. She took a ten year period off from her writing to raise her family, and she has much interest for the anxieties that exist under the surface of everyday life.

Marks

My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass.  Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out.

Being a high school student where so much stress is put on grades this poem struck me as very interesting because I had never considered that others may grade us on what we do outside the classroom in a way similar to how we are graded in it. The speaker's family compares the speaker's everyday performances to classes in school, grading her according to their opinion of her. "An A for last night's supper, incomplete for my ironing, a B plus in bed." The speaker doesn't seem so enthusiastic about the way her family is judging her worth, her value. In a way the depressed speaker is being overwhelmed by her "schoolwork," like many students become when they cannot meet the standards set for them by others. The irony here is that rather than the parents marking their children, it is the children and the husband who are marking the mother, who is commonly thought to be the most important figure in the household and the one who keeps order. However, it is true that most mothers are underappreciated in their efforts for their families. We are led to believe that the speaker is going to take some sort of action, as she continues the metaphor by "dropping out." Will she leave? Will she voice her unhappiness and stress? Is this a suicide note? 

Regardless, this metaphor makes it clear that instead of belittling those we love, we need to appreciate the good in our friends and family members before they decide they no longer want anything to with us.

Lies Martha Collins Analysis

Lies by Martha Collins

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Martha Collins is an American poet who has published numerous volumes of poetry in her lifetime. Attending undergraduate at Stanford and graduate school at the University of Iowa, Collins is now the editor for Oberlin College Press and editor-at-large for Field magazine. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Lies

Anyone can get it wrong, laying low
when she ought to lie, but is it a lie
for her to say she laid him when we know
he wouldn’t lie still long enough to let
her do it? A good lay is not a song,
not anymore; a good lie is something
else: lyrics, lines, what if you say dear sister
when you have no sister, what if you say guns
when you saw no guns, though you know
they’re there? She laid down her arms; she lay
down, her arms by her sides. If we don’t know,
do we lie if we say? If we don’t say, do we lie
down on the job? To arms! in any case,
dear friends. If we must lie, let’s not lie around.

In this poem Martha Collins uses language and word play to present an abstract idea to her audience. Throughout the poem Collins uses different uses of the words "lie," "arms," and "lay" to challenge her audience to think. The word "lie" is used both as the verb form in telling non-truths and the verb form for sexual encounters. She uses the different uses of the word "lie" to question what lying really consists of, asking whether it is a lie to say something we do not know definitively. Next Collins uses the word "arms" to further analyze her original question about lying. Is it lying to say you saw something you know is there even if you don't see it? At first Collins indicates this may be true, but then switches viewpoints and asks whether omitting something you know but cannot prove is also dishonest? Here it seems that Collins is almost asking her audience for their opinion, keeping her audience both involved and thinking. The final line is an attempt to answer her own question, in which she says we must trust ourselves and our judgment. If there is something we believe to be true and it turns out not to be true, in a sense that type of lie may be less harmful to the situation than nothing being said at all for fear of being proven wrong. In other words, any form of communication done with the right intention is better than no communication at all.

I appreciated the way this poem used language to make me think rather than just read. I was forced to read this three times before I better understood what it was asking and how it tried to answer this question.

In Westminster Abbey by John Betjeman (1906-1984)

John Betjeman was an English poet who was rare in that his poetry was often well received by both his audiences and literary critics. He is known for his light touch on serious issues, and was known to satirize society's superficiality, which we see here in In Westminster Abbey. He served as the United Kingdom's poet laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984.

In Westminster Abbey

Let me take this other glove off
As the vox humana swells,
And the beauteous fields of Eden
Bask beneath the Abbey bells.
Here, where England's statesmen lie,
Listen to a lady's cry.

Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans,
Spare their women for Thy Sake,
And if that is not too easy
We will pardon Thy Mistake.
But, gracious Lord, whate'er shall be,
Don't let anyone bomb me.

Keep our Empire undismembered
Guide our Forces by Thy Hand,
Gallant blacks from far Jamaica,
Honduras and Togoland;
Protect them Lord in all their fights,
And, even more, protect the whites.

Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots' and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
Democracy and proper drains.
Lord, put beneath Thy special care
One-eighty-nine Cadogan Square.

Although dear Lord I am a sinner,
I have done no major crime;
Now I'll come to Evening Service
Whensoever I have the time.
So, Lord, reserve for me a crown,
And do not let my shares go down.

I will labour for Thy Kingdom,
Help our lads to win the war,
Send white feathers to the cowards
Join the Women's Army Corps,
Then wash the steps around Thy Throne
In the Eternal Safety Zone.

Now I feel a little better,
What a treat to hear Thy Word,
Where the bones of leading statesmen
Have so often been interr'd.
And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait
Because I have a luncheon date.

Betjeman's humorous satire shines through in In Westminster Abbey, where, given the context and situation, what would normally be a very grave and melancholy tone becomes lackadaisical and almost humorous.Written in 1940, the poem gives a backdrop of the beginning of World War II in which the German army is quickly advancing through France and approaching the banks of the English Channel. While the speaker, a rich English woman (she's wearing gloves and has a luncheon date), may seem to be doing the right thing in the context by praying to God for her own well-being and the well-being of others (somewhat), it quickly becomes apparent that she is really giving no thought to the prayer at all, and that her selfishness and ignorance are what should be noticed here. She prays that she, in particular, shall not feel the blast of the German bombs, and is openly racist in her request to protect the "gallant blacks... and, even more, protect the whites." The woman may seem serious in her requests to God, but the audience soon sees the ignorance she is living (rather happily) with. She does not realize the severity of the war and destruction going on around her, and since we know in the aftermath of World War II the real suffering and atrocities that went on the audience is made to oppose the speaker and her point of view. Considering the audience and its knowledge of the context and situation of England in WWII, the last line makes the whole poem seem insincere in that this prayer is abruptly halted due to a prior (and obviously insignificant in the big picture) luncheon date.

She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850)

William Wordsworth is one of the most famous poets in the history of poetry. Born in Cumberland, England, Wordsworth was known for his ideas of the importance of the relationship between nature and man. Wordsworth also was notorious for the political ideas he buried in his poetry. He was and continues to be one of the most critically acclaimed poets not only of his time but of all time.

She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways

She dwelt among the untrodden ways

         Beside the springs of Dove,

A Maid whom there were none to praise

         And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone

         Half hidden from the eye!

—Fair as a star, when only one

         Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

         When Lucy ceased to be;

But she is in her grave, and, oh,

         The difference to me!

In this unit we are currently studying about the speaker in poetry, Wordsworth gives a great example of the emotion and feelings the audience can feel when it feeds off the speaker. This poem leaves more questions open than answered, though the audience is aware of the final conclusion: the death of Lucy and the grief the speaker is trying to articulate as a result. The audience knows very little about Lucy. We know her name, that she lived a rather lonely life, and that she was very important to the few people who knew her, namely the speaker. The lack of detail here also helps to support the fact that "There were none to praise and very few to love" Lucy and "few could know when Lucy ceased to be." Based off these details, or lack thereof, the audience could be led to believe that the speaker of the poem may have been one of the many who didn't know her very well. But in the last two stanzas, we see a transition where the speaker almost begins to vent his feelings about her and the grief he feels because of her death. While there is no indication the speaker is in fact male, the audience gets the impression (and assumes, since Wordsworth is a man) that the speaker loved Lucy very much and still loves her even after her death. The rhyme scheme gives the poem a romantic feel, that maybe the speaker has written this to Lucy for both closure and the opportunity to tell her how he really felt if he was never able to do so while she was alive.

Seamus Heaney Mother of the Groom Analysis

Mother of the Groom -Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

Seamus Heaney was born and raised in Northern Ireland. The Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Heaney spent time as a professor at both Harvard and Oxford. He grew up a Catholic in Protestant English rule, and many of his poems address life in Northern Ireland. He is known as one of the major poets of the 20th century.

Mother of the Groom

What she remembers
Is his glistening back
In the bath, his small boots
In the ring of boots at her feet.

Hands in her voided lap,
She hears a daughter welcomed.
It's as if he kicked when lifted
And slipped her soapy hold.

Once soap would ease off
The wedding ring
That's bedded forever now
In her clapping hand.

1966



When my brother got married over seven years ago, I remember how my mom experienced a whirlwind of emotions: happiness for her son, sadness in how the time had passed, thoughtful as to how this event would change the relationship she had with her son. Here, similarly, Heaney's character "the mother of the groom" is feeling nostalgic and and almost left out of the whole celebration. Usually in a wedding, of the four major individuals at a wedding (bride, groom, mother of bride, mother of groom,) the mother of the groom takes the back seat in the celebration in relation to the other three. This mother of the groom relates her now-married son to the boy she remembers giving a bath, and uses that image to describe how the son is "slipping" away from his mother's grasp. She realizes how much his marriage will change her role in his life, and the role of primary woman in her son's life is now gone. "She hears a daughter welcomed." She does not welcome the daughter. "Her voided lap," she did not void herself. She has no choice in this situation, and she regrets this. In a way, the mother of the groom's aging now begins to speed up as her son has also taken steps to grow up (marriage.) It is evident the mother and her son had a very intimate relationship, and she feels replaced as that intimacy is picked up and moved to his new wife. It is amazing the meaning, memories, and emotions just three short stanzas can bring to a reader. The simple language used allows Heaney to connect the mother of the groom to the reader, creating a situation the reader can relate to. Whether any of us will ever be a mother of the groom is irrelevant because at times we all feel replaced, we all feel a relationship changing we don't want to give consent to, we all feel the finality of an important event like marriage.

Ars Poetica Analysis

Ars Poetica

BY ARCHIBALD MACLEISH (1892-1982)

Archibald Macleish was born in Glencoe,  Illinois. He served in World War I, which was a very important time in his life. He attended Yale for Undergraduate Studies and harvard Law School. (SMartguy)

A poem should be palpable and mute   

As a globed fruit,

Dumb

As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone

Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—

A poem should be wordless   

As the flight of birds.

                         *               

A poem should be motionless in time   

As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases

Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,   

Memory by memory the mind—

A poem should be motionless in time   

As the moon climbs.

                         *               

A poem should be equal to:

Not true.

For all the history of grief

An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love

The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—

A poem should not mean   

But be.

In this poem about poetry, the speaker describes how readers should view and treat poetry. It is apparent that the speaker does not think we currently treat poetry correctly, but he presents very abstract solutions to the problem. The speaker asserts "A poem should not mean but be," stating that often poetry is over-analyzed to the point that it is no longer appropriately appreciated. "A poem" is compared throughout the poem to different aspects of nature and the environment. This connection possibly asserts that, like our environment and the animals in it, poetry comes from the minds of men, and is thus natural. And because it is presented as natural, it should be appreciated from afar rather than through exploitation (which has become a problem for the environment the past three or four centuries.) The rhyme scheme consists of couplets, which adds to pleasant voice the poem presents to the ear. The speaker gives the impression that a poem, once conceived on paper and gone from the poets mind, becomes a separate entity in itself; the poet no longer has control of that work. It simply exists. As a result, if the poet, the one who conceived the poem, is unable to control (or tame) the poem successfully, then how could a reader possibly do so successfully? We can't, and speaker dissuades us from even trying.

I really liked the way a poem was used to explicate how we should generally treat poems. This poem gives the voice of and opinions of all the other poems without a voice!

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