Tag Archives: Rupert Brooke

Reflection

“Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Dead”

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I read “The Charge of the Light Brigade” in my European History class in high school, and I really enjoyed it. I found our recent discussion in class interesting, but I have some differing viewpoints. First, I agree that the work is a eulogy that is meant to glorify the actions of the men who perished in combat. However, I disagree that the author is expressing the senselessness of the war. Tennyson is conveying that although the specific purposes of the war may not have been completely understood by the soldiers,  the men are willing to risk everything for the sake of their hopes, dreams, wishes, and country. To be clear, this sense of duty is not blind. The men are not aware of the exact political or strategic objectives at hand, but this is irrelevant to Tennyson’s purpose. The soldiers are willing to enter the dangerous war because they have individual, as well as nationalist, motivations. Their families and desires spur them to do everything in their power to protect the prospects of their futures, even if it means risking their lives. The battlefield might be a “valley of Death” or the “mouth of Hell,” yet the men enter it regardless.  Therefore, I view “The Charge of the Light Brigade” as a kind of nationalist piece solely meant to glorify the battle and inspire the populace.

I appreciate the contrast “The Dead” provides from the first poem.  It is notably a Shakespearean sonnet, and as a result, the diction is more melodic and poetic, and the tone is nostalgic and soothing. Even though the poem seems to be tranquil and serene, I feel that Brooke is subtly guilting and blaming society for the deaths of the soldiers. By glorifying the civilian aspect of the soldiers’ lives and exaggerating the joys of mundane occurrences, he insinuates that their deaths are meaningless. Since the men’s lives are cut short, they will never be able to experience simple pleasures such as “the stir of wonder,” “rich skies,” and “waves that dance.” At the poem’s conclusion, I feel slightly unsettled knowing that these men perished at preventable means.

Although “Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Dead” discuss men in combat, the purpose of each are distinct. Tennyson extols the fallen soldiers in a nationalist manner, whereas Brooke suggests that promising lives are lost in meaningless wars. Determining the authors’ intents was somewhat challenging because it required noticing subtleties, but I enjoyed each poem and respect the differing perspectives.

Reflection

The Changed View of War: Reflection on “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Dead”

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Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” highlights a moment during the Crimean War where 600 British soldiers mistakenly charged heavily fortified Russian artillery forces after receiving incorrect orders. Subsequently, most of them died without having gained much during the attack. Rather than describing the pointless loss of life during that charge, Tennyson chooses to glorify the soldiers’ choice to courageously follow through with the orders without hesitation over its feasibility. Nowadays, we might refer to this as “blind obedience”, and would rarely declare it an act of valor. Instead, most of us would feel contempt towards the leader giving orders and pity for the soldiers who followed them. In the 19th century, the battlefield was considered just as much a place for nations to show off their “muscle” and military wit as it was to settle diplomatic disputes. Sixty years later, this mentality led to several European powers being eager to find an excuse to wage war with one another. When that excuse finally arrived and the First World War began, the mentality dramatically shifted as tens of thousands of people were dying every day without a clear reason as to why. War no longer seemed distant as the possibility of knowing someone who died in battle severely increased with each passing year. War became personal. Rupert Brooke describes it best in his poem “The Dead”. Brooke individualizes the perished troops and gives them a “story” to their lives. The poem consists of descriptions of very human experiences such as love and watching sunsets. He makes it very clear that all those who died in battle were not born soldiers. They shared the same experiences we have every day and would most likely continue those experiences for several more years had they not died in battle. Brooke highlights that any loss of life is cruel as it terminates the human experiences we all partake in. If anything, Brooke is trying to glorify the men who died based on how they lived rather than what they were doing when they died.

Reflection

“The Dead” & WWI poetry

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I chose to analyze “The Dead” by Rupert Brooke (although I’ll bring up “The Charge of the Light Brigade” if I run out of ideas before 10 minutes pass). At first glance, “The Dead” seems to fit the typical mold of a World War I poem, as it it appears to be a perversion of the classical poetry at the time. It is beautiful, lyrical, and mentions nature, yet its subject matter is death. While this is normal for a World War I poem, it does stand out in some ways from other WWI poetry. For one, many WWI poems address the reader as “you”, which Brooke does not do. This poem also seems to have more idealism than other WWI poetry. For example, CH Sorley also mentions victims of the war in his poem “When you see millions…”, but his poem is very dark and startling. This poem by Brooke only mentions the beautiful parts of life that these soldiers left behind, which idealizes them. (ugh sorry)

Reflection

“The Dead”-A Commentary on War

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WWI was unprecedented in its length and horrific character as thousands of soldiers died. Rupert Brooke takes an angle of humanizing the soldiers that can be contrasted by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” which talks more generally of the role and fate of the solider.

While “The Dead” is short, the lines are long and each word provides meaning and tone. The poem does not seem to be referring to soldiers as soldiers but as human beings in what they have experienced and the beauty of life, which is contrasted by death. The first stanza uses romantic lines such as “dawn was theirs” and “felt the quick stir of wonder” and ends with the final words, in a curt 4 word sentence: “All this is ended.” While the rest of the lines of the first stanza flow together and are punctuated by commas, this last statement stands out clearly to show what has been lost. It is of interest that the first stanza does not focus on only the beautiful things in life but also the very human, vulnerable aspects of a full life, as Brooke says, the lost beings were “washed marvelously with sorrow,” demonstrating that life’s sweetness comes from sorrow and joy.

The second stanza moves away from the soldiers and personifies “Frost” as a being that “stays the waves that dance,” which is sort of a bringer of death. Brooke does not describe the death cruelly but rather cold and honourable, shown by the “Frost” leaving “a shining peace, under the night.”  Brooke plies at the emotions of the reader, humanizes the soldier as a being who experienced all that life has to offer but was put out like a flame by a cold but honourable death.

 

-Lauren