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The Charge Of The Light Brigade Literary Devices

Decent Essays

The Battle of Balaclava of the Crimean War took place on October 25, 1854 (Greenspan). Not even two months later, Lord Alfred Tennyson published his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (History.com). Although the Poetry for Students author believes that the soldiers’ loyalty was the most notable feature, the more important aspect was the soldiers’ bravery (Poetry for Students). In “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” Tennyson accentuates the bravery that the soldiers exhibited in their battle through the use of literary devices such as repetition, sensory details, and epistrophe.
Poets often utilize different techniques in order to improve their writing or to make an argument. In this case, Tennyson used repetition to emphasize the point …show more content…

At the end of every paragraph, “rode the six hundred,” or something similar to it, was repeated. If the reader ignores every other phrase and only reads the last line of each stanza, he is still able to get a sense of how the battle progresses. When the Light Brigade begins to lose the battle, the phrase shifts to “not the six hundred,” and then to “left of six hundred” (Tennyson). It is easy to see from these phrases that the circumstances have changed for the soldiers. It seems like the soldiers have no hope and will be forgotten. The last line of the poem, however, changes everything. “Noble six hundred!”; the soldiers will not be forgotten or ridiculed, rather they will be remembered and praised for their bravery, no matter the outcome of the battle. Without this phrase being placed at the end of every paragraph, the reader wouldn’t understand that the soldiers’ extensive bravery was enough for them to be remembered, even though they were unsuccessful in battle.
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” is full of emotion and excitement. Neither of those sensations would have been possible without the use of literary devices. Tennyson used repetition, sensory details, and epistrophe in order to add to the emotional effect, but more importantly to aid him in proving the soldiers’ bravery. Without these literary devices, the poem

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