The Charge of the Light Brigade

Lord Alfred Tennyson

 
Half 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.  
  
"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.  
  
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.  
  
Flash’d all their sabres bare,  
Flash’d as they turn’d in air  
Sabring the gunners there,  
Charging an army, while   
  All the world wonder’d:  
Plunged in 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.  
  
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.  
  
When can their glory fade?     
O the wild charge they made!  
  All the world wonder’d.  
Honor the charge they made!  
Honor the Light Brigade,  
  Noble six hundred!
 

Poems by This Author

In Memoriam, Epilogue, [O true and tried, so well and long] by Lord Alfred Tennyson
O true and tried, so well and long
In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells] by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky
In Memoriam, [To Sleep I give my powers away] by Lord Alfred Tennyson
To Sleep I give my powers away
Break, Break, Break by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Break, break, break
Crossing the Bar by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Sunset and evening star
Tears, Idle Tears by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean
The Eagle by Lord Alfred Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands
The Hesperides by Lord Alfred Tennyson
The North-wind fall'n, in the new starréd night
The Kraken by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Below the thunders of the upper deep
The Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson
On either side the river lie
The Splendor Falls by Lord Alfred Tennyson
The splendor falls on castle walls
Tithonus by Lord Alfred Tennyson
The woods decay, the woods decay and fall
Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson
It little profits that an idle king,