Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79. | | | | Balaklava | | The Charge of the Light Brigade | | Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | | HALF a league, half a league, | |
| Half a league onward, | |
| All in the valley of Death | |
| Rode the six hundred. | |
| “Forward, the Light Brigade! | 5 |
| 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? | 10 |
| Not though the soldier knew | |
| Some one had blundered: | |
| Theirs not to make reply, | |
| Theirs not to reason why, | |
| Theirs but to do and die: | 15 |
| Into the valley of Death | |
| Rode the six hundred. | |
| |
| Cannon to right of them, | |
| Cannon to left of them, | |
| Cannon in front of them, | 20 |
| Volleyed and thundered: | |
| Stormed at with shot and shell, | |
| Boldly they rode and well, | |
| Into the jaws of Death, | |
| Into the mouth of Hell | 25 |
| Rode the six hundred. | |
| |
| Flashed all their sabres bare, | |
| Flashed as they turned in air, | |
| Sabring the gunners there, | |
| Charging an army, while | 30 |
| All the world wondered: | |
| Plunged in the battery-smoke, | |
| Right through the line they broke; | |
| Cossack and Russian | |
| Reeled from the sabre-stroke | 35 |
| Shattered and sundered. | |
| Then they rode back, but not, | |
| Not the six hundred. | |
| |
| Cannon to right of them, | |
| Cannon to left of them, | 40 |
| Cannon behind them | |
| Volleyed and thundered; | |
| Stormed at with shot and shell, | |
| While horse and hero fell, | |
| They that had fought so well | 45 |
| 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? | 50 |
| O the wild charge they made! | |
| All the world wondered. | |
| Honor the charge they made! | |
| Honor the Light Brigade, | |
| Noble six hundred! | 55 | | | |
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