StoryTitle("caps", "The Charge of the Light Brigade") ?>
Charge of the Light Brigade" (1809-92) unlike "Casabianca" shows
obedience under stern necessity. Obedience is the salvation of any army.
John Burroughs says: "I never hear that poem but what it thrills me through
and through."
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Half a league, half a league,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Half a league onward,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All in the valley of Death", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Rode the six hundred.", "") ?>
PagePoem(108, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Forward, the Light Brigade!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Charge for the guns!\" he said:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into the valley of Death", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Rode the six hundred.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Forward, the Light Brigade!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Was there a man dismay'd?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Not tho' the soldier knew", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Some one had blunder'd:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Theirs not to make reply,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Theirs not to reason why.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Theirs but to do and die:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into the valley of Death", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Rode the six hundred.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cannon to right of them,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cannon to left of them,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cannon in front of them", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Volley'd and thunder'd;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Storm'd at with shot and shell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Boldly they rode and well,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into the jaws of Death,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into the mouth of Hell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Rode the six hundred.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Flash'd all their sabers bare,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Flash'd as they turn'd in air", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sab'ring the gunners there,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Charging an army, while", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All the world wonder'd:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Plunged in the battery-smoke", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Right thro' the line they broke;", "") ?>
PagePoem(109, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cossack and Russian", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Reel'd from the saber-stroke", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Shatter'd and sunder'd.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then they rode back, but not", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Not the six hundred.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cannon to right of them,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cannon to left of them,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cannon behind them", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Volleyed and thundered:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stormed at with shot and shell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While horse and hero fell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They that had fought so well", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came through the jaws of death", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Back from the mouth of hell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All that was left of them—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Left of six hundred.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When can their glory fade?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Oh, the wild charge they made!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All the world wondered.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Honour the charge they made!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Honour the Light Brigade—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Noble six hundred!", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("100", SmallCapsText("Alfred Tennyson.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>