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 dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through 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 wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
When in
London, Alfred Lord Tennyson spent a great deal of time at the salon of
literary and artistic salon of Mrs Prinsep at Little Holland House,
whose other distinguished guests included Charles Dickens (1812-1870),
Robert Browning (1812-1889), William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863),
and Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), among others.
Tennyson served
as England's Poet Laureate from 1850 until his death. He was
appointed by letters patent, a type of legal document which is an open letter
issued by a monarch or government granting a right, monopoly, title, or
status to someone or to an entity.
In Tennyson's case, the monarch
was Queen Victoria.
The poet laureate
was traditionally responsible for writing and
presenting official poetry to commemorate occasions both personal -- such as
the monarch's birthday and royal births and marriages -- and public -- such as
coronations and military victories. This custom ceased to be obligatory
after the death Henry James Pye in 1813. Upon Pye's death, the post
was held by Williams Wordsworth, followed by Tennyson.
