One of my favourite poems from the school days, more so because it was rendered so passionately by one of my school mates in elocution competitions. So here’s to the old times.
Background reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crimea/chargelb.html
http://www.pinetreeweb.com/13th-balaclava2.htm
http://www.uea.ac.uk/edu/learn/braysher/charge.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/tennyson.shtml
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the
Rode the six hundred.
2.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the
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.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson,
J. E. Tilton and Company,
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