Compare how Conflict is presented in The Charge of the Light Brigade and one other poem. Alfred Tennyson’s charge of the light brigade shows a horrific battle during the Crimean War and therefore shows the disbelief and horror of conflict. Tennyson uses the poem to show the admiration and bravery of the solders in their determination to obey orders even though they were thoughtless. In contrast the title of Wilfred Owen’s Futility shows the overpowering sense of uselessness and helplessness in relation to conflict, felt by the soldiers in the face of their friends recent death. The poem focuses on the effect of conflict and is focused on an injured, probably dead soldier.
“For god sake” is a phrase which prickles the readers feelings- it is sharp, strong and full of raw emotions. Morpurgo has added this to show how some had a lot of gratitude for horses. It is a painful way to say goodbye though and Morpurgo has pressed upon the fact that just because a horse, like Topthorn, is beautiful doesn’t mean it will survive the harrows of a merciless war. The significance of Topthorn is highlighted when the vet officer expresses the unpleasant truth. The vet officer leaves a harsh mental image in the reader’s mind which instantly creates deep sympathy.
This is exemplified by “hacking at the wounded”, “drag their mangled bodies” and “awful cross-fire”. This is different to source 1 and 2 as they both give a positive view toward the charge of the light brigade. They both show the attack in a positive light; making the soldiers seems brave and courageous. Source 1, a cartoon showing Lord Cardigan riding on a high horse, focuses on the bravery of the soldiers during the charge. This challenges the impression given of the Charge of the Light Brigade given in source 3 as it juxtaposes the scene given to the readers.
In contrast Tennyson’s Charge depicts a disastrous battle during the Crimean War and therefore shows the disbelief and horror of conflict. Tennyson uses the poem to show the admiration and bravery of the solders in their determination to obey orders even though the orders were foolish. Futility could be considered as an elegy for the unnamed solider and opens with a tender and sad tone shifting to pointlessness in the second stanza. The use of the pronoun ‘him’ in the opening line suggests this could be any soldier from World War I demonstrating the number of men who would remain unnamed and unclaimed during this conflict. On the contrary Charge is patriotic with Tennyson celebrating the courage and obedience of the soldiers – this can be seen in his use of ‘glory, honour/noble’.
The simile “like old beggars under sacks” illustrates the dirty, weak image of the soldiers which contrasts the strong, heroic image which was portrayed of them at the time. This image was the belief of Jessie Pope who encouraged men to fight for their country. In contrast, Owen uses personification in ‘The Sentry’ to convey the appalling living conditions on the frontline as the steps were “choked” by mud. This is effective as it shows how much slush and mud was in the trenches. Both poems use nightmare underwater imagery, in ‘Dulce...’ Owen describes a soldier as he starts “drowning” under a “green sea” when he is overcome by gas.
This simile is an important contrast of the information people were fed at the time of soldiers being strong and proud. Owen strips away the image of a glorified war to reveal the bitter and cruel nature of the war. The bitter imagery “Coughing like hags” and “but limped on” also develops the idea of these young man seeming old. Owen takes pity on these tired and weary soldiers as he describes them in the most unglamorous, inglorious manner. The statement “all went lame, all blind’, while being somewhat hyperbolic suggests that the soldiers had lost all previous objectives of war along with the line “cursed through sludge”.
Cameron Birnie The Charge of the Light Brigade The poem “ The Charge of the Light Brigade” was published by Alfred Tennyson in 1894, and highlights the bravery and futility of war, and the men involved. The charge of the light brigade itself took place on the 25th October 1854 and was a British cavalry charge against Russian and Cossack forces at the battle of Balaclava. It was a result of a miscommunication that resulted a much more difficult objective, to which many men died. In the poem Lord Tennyson uses many different techniques, such as onomatopoeia, repetition and alliteration to build up a dramatic account of the charges stages. In this piece I will assess how he uses certain techniques to present conflict.
Crazy Horse’s forces didn’t have advanced arms, but he had better wisdom and tactics of war. He defeated extremely arrogant Custer. While at the end of the poem, Custer said that he would be reborn whenever dictators need him or whenever movie-goers want to watch him. This is an ironic and humor ending. Through this ending, Alexie indicates his view on Custer: he was standing on the side of dictators; he was a bad guy.
Owen is addressing the reader, who possibly doesn’t have the first hand experience of the war, and criticising the enthusiasm with which the war is described, particularly to vulnerable children (BBC, 2013). Owen uses the language and a variety of literary devices to vividly depict the true reality of war and suffering of the soldiers. This is evident from the first two lines where Owen uses simile to describe soldiers who are ‘like old beggars’ and ‘coughing like hags’ (lines 1,2). They are ‘blood-shod’, ‘drunk with fatigue’ (lines 6,7). Owen depicts soldiers not as undefeatable heroes, but desperate, weak, and pitiful human beings.
Owen sympathizes with the vain young men who have no idea of the horrors of war, who are 'seduced' by others (Jessie Pope) and the recruiting posters. The detail in Owen's poetry puts forward his scenes horrifically and memorably. His poems are suffused with the horror of battle. Many of Owen's poems bring across disturbing themes and images, which stay in the mind long after readers have read them. His aim is not poetry, but to describe the full horrors of war.