’The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The poet transforms a military blunder into a call to glory.
’The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“The Charge of the Light Brigade,” 1894, by Richard Caton Woodville Jr. Public Domain
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Although the battle described in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” was a military disaster, its conquest of the culture and of the hearts of readers was tremendously successful.

The poem is captivating in its idea of being obedient even unto death and in following what one knows is a faulty order. Most would think it a terrible thing to die for—that the idea of following such an order is absurd.

Marlena Figge
Marlena Figge
Author
Marlena Figge received her M.A. in Italian Literature from Middlebury College in 2021 and graduated from the University of Dallas in 2020 with a B.A. in Italian and English. She currently has a teaching fellowship and teaches English at a high school in Italy.