The Charge of The Light Brigade

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.

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’

Was there a man dismay’d?

Not tho’ the soldier knew

Some one had blunder’s:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die,

Into the Valley od Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left 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.

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’s.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

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.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wonder’d.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

-This poem is written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) to memorialize a suicidal charge by light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Battle of Balclave (Ukraine) in the Crimean War (1854-1856). 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded. Britain entered the war, which was fought by Russia against Turkey, Britain and France, because Russia sought to control the Dardanelles. Russian control of the Dardanelles threatened British sea routes.-