The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)

The Charge of the Light Brigade is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.

Tennyson's poem, published December 9, 1854 in The Examiner, praises the Brigade, "When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made!", while mourning the appalling futility of the charge: "Not tho' the soldier knew, someone had blunder'd… Charging an army, while all the world wonder'd." Tennyson wrote the poem inside only a few minutes after reading an account of the battle in The Times, according to his grandson Sir Charles Tennyson. It immediately became hugely popular, even reaching the troops in the Crimea, where it was distributed in pamphlet form.

There is some speculation as to whether it was truely written to praise the Brigade, or as a subtle message of the horrors of war. This is hard to say because it is very subtle, although if it had been more obvious, there would probably have been a much more negative public response which suggests that not many people thought of it this way during the time.

An audio recording of Tennyson reading The Charge of the Light Brigade, made in 1890 on a wax cylinder, is available online [1]

Kipling's response

In 1881, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem in response, entitled The Last of the Light Brigade, which attempted to shame the British public by depicting the difficult conditions suffered by the survivors of the Light Brigade.

Influence on popular culture

The song "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden is based on The Charge of the Light Brigade