THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
by: Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
- I
-
- ALF 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.
-
- II
-
- 'Forward the Light Brigade!'
- Was there a man dismay'd?
- Not tho' the soldier knew
- Some one had blunder'd.
- Theirs not to make reply,
- Theirs not to reason why,
- Theirs but to do and die.
- Into the valley of Death
- Rode the six hundred.
-
- III
-
- Cannon to right of them,
- Cannon to left of them,
- Cannon in front of them
- Volley'd and thunder'd;
- Storm'd at with shot and shell,
- Boldly they rode and well,
- Into the jaws of Death,
- Into the mouth of hell
- Rode the six hundred.
-
- IV
-
- Flash'd all their sabres bare,
- Flash'd as they turned in air
- Sabring the gunners there,
- Charging an army, while
- All the world wonder'd.
- Plunged into the battery-smoke
- Right thro' the line they broke;
- Cossack and Russian
- Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
- Shatter'd and sunder'd.
- Then they rode back, but not,
- Not the six hundred.
-
- V
-
- Cannon to right of them,
- Cannon to left of them,
- Cannon behind them
- Volley'd and thunder'd;
- Storm'd at with shot and shell,
- While horse and hero fell,
- They that had fought so well
- Came thro' the jaws of Death,
- Back from the mouth of hell,
- All that was left of them,
- Left of six hundred.
-
- VI
-
- When can their glory fade?
- O the wild charge they made!
- All the world wondered.
- Honor the charge they made!
- Honor the Light Brigade,
- Noble six hundred!
'The Charge of the Light Brigade'
is reprinted from English Poems. Ed. Edward Chauncey Baldwin.
New York: American Book Company, 1908. |
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