The Charge of the Light Brigade Essay example -- English Literature

The Charge of the Light Brigade War poetry is a theme that has inspired many poets. Compare and contrast poems by 2 poets from different eras and cultures. Say which one you prefer and why. The two poems and the poets that I am going to look at are The Charge of the Light Brigade written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Dulce ET Decorum Est. Pro Patria Mori by Wilfred Owen. The first poem was written during the reign of Queen Victoria in England. During this time the Victorians as the people were called had a very religious outlook on life. The account was written by the poet because it was such a bad battle that the government couldn’t let the people see that it had made a great mistake and so it commissioned Tennyson to write the poem saying what a wonderful battle it had been. It was a cover up. The second poem was written by Wilfred Owen while he was on active service during the First World War. He was a young man and was against the terrible waste of life the First World War caused. He believed this was due to bad leadership by the generals. Wilfred Owen was able to experience the war as it really was whereas Tennyson never actually saw the battle he was writing about. Owens’s poem was written because he was in the war and wants to tell you what it was like in the war I am going to write about The Charge of The Light Brigade which is about the Crimean War which was fought between Russia on the one hand and Britain France and Turkey on the other. The charge of the light brigade occurred in November 1854 at Balaclava in the Crimea. The brave six hundred rode straight down a valley that was fortified at its end by many cannon served by Russian and Cossack gunners. The heroes were following confus... ...nces between the two poems are that in one the poet is saying that the war could not have gone any better, and the poem is telling you that the war was the worst one ever. Also The Charge of the Light Brigade has a â€Å"galloping† rhythm all most all the way through the poem. In the Dulce ET Decorum EST Pro Patria Mori poem there is no obvious rhythm to this poem and in fact the slow pace of the poem makes us think of the soldiers trudging through the muddy trenches. One was involved in fighting but Tennyson was simply writing about an event he’d read about and was against the cruelty and waste of life war brought whereas Tennyson wanted people to feel that war was honourable worthwhile and necessary. I prefer Dulce et Decorum est. as it is more realistic and makes me feel sorry for the men in the poem. Tennyson poem does not give a true account of the war.