Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"

"Charge of the Light Brigade" by Caton Woodville

In December of 1854, Alfred, Lord Tennyson read a war update in his morning newspaper and then quickly wrote one of his most famous poems, "The Charge of the Light Brigade." 

You can find a brief introduction to this poem at enotes.com and the full text is found at oldpoetry.com.  You can read more about the battle in the post "The Crimean War and the Light Brigade's Charge."

Alfred Tennyson

Like all poems, this one can be studied in many different ways.  Let's focus on just two things of interest.

First, it is important to be familiar with this poem because references are often made to it.  Not understanding a reference is like not getting an inside joke:  you wish it made sense!  The poem's page on Wikipedia has a section called "In Popular Culture" where you can see a long list of ways this poem has been referred to in recent years.  This will give you an idea of which lines are the most well-known.

Our second focus on this poem has to do with the way it's read.  The reader of a poem has a responsibility to convey the poem's meaning and feeling.   Compare the two readers below.









Now compare these versions to Tennyson himself reading.  The recording isn't great, but Thomas Edison used the best technology available to make it.   You can listen to it at poetryarchive.org.  

What do you think of this poem and the different readings?  What parts of the poem stand out the most -- or which parts will you remember the best?