The Charge of the Light Brigade

1

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.

2

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

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.

3

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

4

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

5

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

6

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXVs8KydoNY

Bayonet Charge

Suddenly he awoke and was running - raw

In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,

Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge

That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing

Bullets smacking the belly out of the air -

He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm;

The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye

Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, -

In bewilderment then he almost stopped -

In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations

Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running

Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs

Listening between his footfalls for the reason

Of his still running, and his foot hung like

Statuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows

Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame

And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide

Open silent, its eyes standing out.

He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge,

King, honour, human dignity, etcetera

Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm

To get out of that blue crackling air

His terror’s touchy dynamite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AMuwf9zzKM

Exposure

Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us...

Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent...

Low, drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient...

Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,

But nothing happens.

Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,

Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.

Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,

Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.

What are we doing here?

The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow...

We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.

Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army

Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,

But nothing happens.

Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.

Less deathly than the air that shudders black with snow,

With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew;

We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,

But nothing happens.

Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces---

We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed,

Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,

Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses,

---Is it that we are dying?

Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed

With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;

For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;

Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed,---

We turn back to our dying.

Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;

Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.

For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;

Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,

For love of God seems dying.

Tonight, this frost will fasten on this mud and us,

Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp.

The burying-party, picks and shovels in shaking grasp,

Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,

But nothing happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64FESmLvQEs

Remains by Simon Armitage

On another occasion, we get sent out

to tackle looters raiding a bank.

And one of them legs it up the road,

probably armed, possibly not.

Well myself and somebody else and somebody else

are all of the same mind,

so all three of us open fire.

Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear

I see every round as it rips through his life –

I see broad daylight on the other side.

So we’ve hit this looter a dozen times

and he’s there on the ground, sort of inside out,

pain itself, the image of agony.

One of my mates goes by

and tosses his guts back into his body.

Then he’s carted off in the back of a lorry.

End of story, except not really.

His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol

I walk right over it week after week.

Then I’m home on leave. But I blink

and he bursts again through the doors of the bank.

Sleep, and he’s probably armed, possibly not.

Dream, and he’s torn apart by a dozen rounds.

And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out –

he’s here in my head when I close my eyes,

dug in behind enemy lines,

not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land

or six-feet-under in desert sand,

but near to the knuckle, here and now,

his bloody life in my bloody hands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmUCX-dSb9E

War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy

In his dark room he is finally alone

with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.

The only light is red and softly glows,

as though this were a church and he

a priest preparing to intone a Mass.

Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.

He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays

beneath his hands, which did not tremble then

though seem to now. Rural England. Home again

to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,

to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet

of running children in a nightmare heat.

Something is happening. A stranger’s features

faintly start to twist before his eyes,

a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries

of this man’s wife, how he sought approval

without words to do what someone must

and how the blood stained into foreign dust.

A hundred agonies in black and white

from which his editor will pick out five or six

for Sunday’s supplement. The reader’s eyeballs prick

with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.

From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where

he earns his living and they do not care.

Carol Ann Duffy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeZCQlUMQxI

Content of the poem

A clear point

A developed point

An alternative developed point

For each idea select a couple of

quotes from the

poem and analyse

the language

and structure the poet chose to

use to prove the

point.

In each of these boxes fill in your own ideas in response to the statement

In these boxes choose a poem and make a point that would compare

In these boxes select quotations that fit with the

technique

Content of the poem

Charge of the Light Brigade is a poem about an ill fated charge in the Crimean war. Soldiers are sent into battle and show their bravery and honour against the odds.

A clear point A poem about glorifying those who died in battle

A developed point

A poem that is a monument to the bravery of soldiers who represent honour and loyalty. The poem creates heroic images out of the battle and emphasises the importance of remembering and glorifying those who died.

An alternative developed point

The poem places the reader next to the soldiers in battle and makes them a part of the struggle of bravery and honour against evil. The poem explores the nature of true bravery and emphasises the honour that is owed to the regular soldier rather than the commander or leader.

The impression of conflict is…. The soldiers are presented as…

I would compare this poem to ……………… where conflict is presented as…….

I could also compare this poem to ………………..Where the soldiers are presented as………..

Repetition Rhythm Formal structure fighting against chaos and irregularity

Anaphoric phrasing Images of bravery Sounds of war

Allusions to the bible Questions and exclamations Epic rather than realistic or brutal tone

Content of the poem

Bayonet Charge is a poem about a soldier who runs into battle and questions why he is fighting. The soldier’s thoughts and feelings are explored rather than his actions.

A clear point This poem shows how soldiers are objectified and turned into weapons of war.

A developed point

This poem is about inner conflict rather than the conflict of war. It explores the tension between the human thoughts and emotions and the way that war turns men into objects of war.

An alternative developed point

A poem that shows how unnatural war is and challenges the patriotic ideals of honour and glory as empty ideology. The poet emphasises the futility of war and suggests that trauma is inevitable even if the soldier survives.

The impression of conflict is…. The soldiers are presented as…

I would compare this poem to ……………… where conflict is presented as…….

I could also compare this poem to ………………..Where the soldiers are presented as………..

Metaphors and symbols of unnatural objects and machines

Question List and anti-climax

Images and words of violence Repetition of actions Symbolic references to heat and cold

3 stanzas with irregular line length and no rhyme

Enjambment and caesura

Content of the poem

Exposure is a poem about the boredom andagony of war that presents the weather as an enemy. The soldiers are presented as half dead and yet when their memory takes them home they find they are locked out.

A clear point

A poem that explores the many different kinds of suffering that the soldiers endured.

A developed point

A poem that contrasts traditional ideas of heroes in battle by ‘exposing’ the reality that the only certainty is death and it affects everyone. The poet makes war seem futile.

An alternative developed point

A poem that makes conflict seem futile, soldiers pitiable and nature violent and painful. He runs against the romantic notion of nature as an ideal state we should return to and against the nationalistic patriotism.

The impression of conflict is…. The soldiers are presented as…

I would compare this poem to ……………… where conflict is presented as…….

I could also compare this poem to ………………..Where the soldiers are presented as………..

Repetition of short phrases at the end to force a pause and emphasise the lack of action

Passive description of the soldiers

Violent imagery

Imagery and metaphor of death

Personification of the weather

Rhetorical questions

Alliteration and sibilance

Content of the poem

War photographer is a poem about a photographer who is developing photographs from the war zone he has visited. He knows the images mean more to him than the people he took the photograph for.

A clear point War Photographer is a poem about the inner conflict that a photographer feels when they take a photograph in war. They have to share the experience and not get involved in the suffering.

A developed point

War photographer is a poem about the inner conflict of a photographer who has come to the realisation that no matter how well he does his job, he cannot do justice to the suffering he sees. He is conflicted about his need to share the injustice and his inability to stop it.

An alternative developed point

A poem about the trauma of war that shows the photographers own concern that his work is part of the desensitisation and trivialising of suffering. He is conflicted about how suffering cannot be stopped without being shared, but in being shared becomes a commodity.

The impression of conflict is…. The attitude of the public to conflict is……

I would compare this poem to ……………… where conflict is presented as…….

I could also compare this poem to ………………..Where attitudes to conflict are as………..

Religious allusions Contrasts between peaceful society and conflict zones

Images of suffering

Imagery of trivialisation Iambic Pentameter Rhyme

Enjambement and caesura Short and minor sentences

Content of the poem

Remains is a poem in which a soldier recounts an incident which haunts him. He describes how his group shot down a man and how this memory will not leave him.

A clear point A poem that considers the trauma of guilt that many soldiers have to live with after the war is over.

A developed point

A poem that considers the trauma of war and shows how difficult it is to express the conflicting feelings of a soldier as he tries to justify his actions to himself.

An alternative developed point

A poem that explores the limits of language to make sense of experiences. The narrative voice struggles with inner conflict that torments him. He cannot resolve his doubt and guilt and it is implied that conflict will never be resolved for individuals. This contrasts with the historical narrative that normalises or explains away the violence as victory or defeat.

The impression of conflict is…. The soldiers are presented as…

I would compare this poem to ……………… where conflict is presented as…….

I could also compare this poem to ………………..Where the soldiers are presented as………..

Colloquial language of the soldier Dramatic monologue Brutal imagery of the event

Repetition of his doubts Symbolism from the death Dismissive verbs

Irregular line length, enjambment and caesura

Alliteration and plosive sounds

Which poems would you apply each of these words to and can you find a quote to support?Isolation Dehumanised Fear Trivial

Universal Graphic Sanitised Disturbing

Patriotic Unity Devalued Powerful

Trauma Heroic Overwhelming Futile

Chaos Memory Unnatural Impressive

Below are some example questions

• Compare how the poets present the lasting effects of conflict in Remains and one other poem.

• Compare how soldiers are affected by war in Bayonet Charge and one other poem.

• Compare how conflict in war is reported to others in War photographer and one other poem.

• Compare the ways that the poets present the reality of conflict in Bayonet Charge and one other poem.

Have a go at planning and writing a response to these questions. In the exam you will have 45 minutes to plan and write, so time yourself.

When planning for your answer you need

• Clear ideas that relate to the question

• Clear comparisons (similarities and/or differences)

• A poem that you can compare

• Quotations you can analyse

Clear ideas

• Make a statement about the poems that you know you can prove

• Name the poems in your point

• Make sure your statement is responding to the question

• Consider a connection between the poems and also look for differences

Compare how the poets present the lasting effects of conflict in Remains and one other poem.

In both Remains and Charge of the Light Brigade, the poets demonstrate how conflict creates memory. However, in Remains, the memory is destructive and painful whereas in Charge of the Light brigade the memory of the soldiers is presented as unifying and full of pride.

Analysis and proof

• You need to use evidence to support

• You need to analyse the choices of the writer to prove your point

• You need to explain how the analysis affects the reader

Word level analysis

• This means zooming in on a word and identifying the word type

• You then need to think about the impact of choosing this word• What associations are there?• Why this word and not another similar one?• How might a reader respond?

• In Remains, the soldier is shown to be traumatised by the event and finds he continually relives the moment. He describes how he ‘blink and he bursts again through the doors of the bank.’ The verb ‘blink’ is an involuntary action. It is also a seemingly innocent action that he cannot avoid. However, the verb ‘bursts’ has aggressive and explosive connotations which suggest the feeling of being under attack. As a result….

Analysis of technique

• When you analyse a technique you need to think about how the technique itself works

• You also need to consider the language within the technique and its effect on the reader

In Remains the writer suggests that the soldier is guilty. He demonstrates the soldiers sense of regret in the symbolism of ‘his bloody life in my bloody hands.’The Symbol of blood on hands implies guilt. Further to this the metaphor of the man’s ‘life’ being in his hands emphasises the idea that the soldier was powerful. The metaphor almost implies he holds a god like power to give or take life. However, the juxtaposition of his power and his guilt then demonstrates the way the soldier feels at conflict with himself as his own sense of power is contrasted with his own feelings of powerlessness as he can’t take back what he did.

Explanation of an effect on the reader

• You need to explain how all of your analysis is relevant

• You need to link your ideas back to the question and to your point

In Remains, the soldier is shown to be traumatised by the event and finds he continually relives the moment. He describes how he ‘blink and he bursts again through the doors of the bank.’ The verb ‘blink’ is an involuntary action. It is also a seemingly innocent action that he cannot avoid. However, the verb ‘bursts’ has aggressive and explosive connotations which suggest the feeling of being under attack. As a result, the reader would understand that the soldier is powerless to prevent this aggressive memory from coming back to haunt him. The memory is clearly painful for him and he is at it’s mercy.