Structure
The poem is very regular in its structure, with several examples of repetition. It is a narrative poemA narrative poem tells a story. Narrative poems do not have to follow rhythmic patterns., with features of the balladA traditional poetic form used in narrative poetry. A ballad normally features repetition, regular rhyme scheme and rhythm. They were traditionally penned to be sung or read aloud. form. This means that each stanza progresses the story of the attack.
There are six stanzaA grouped set of lines within a poem., as if each stanza is a memorial stone to one hundred of the six hundred cavalrymen.
In the first three stanzas the Light Brigade is approaching the guns.
There is a strong structure in each stanza.
For example, the first stanza begins with three lines, each with six to seven syllables:
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
These are followed by a shorter line of five syllables:
Rode the six hundred.
This pattern suggests the strong formation in which the cavalry charge and is consistent in the first five stanzas.
The final two lines of the first three stanzas act as a refrain or a chorus.
These lines remind the reader of the danger faced by the six hundred as they career through “the valley of Death” and into “the mouth of Hell”.
In stanza two the Light Brigade has engaged the enemy so the longer stanzas describe the struggle.
The structure starts to vary from stanza four. For example, the rhythm is broken by four shorter lines.
Stanza five has only two short lines - 42 and 48. The desperate attempt to retreat is expressed in the run of six longer lines - 43 to 48. It is also apparent in the use of more negative diction, “Plunged”, “Reel’d”, “Shattered”.
Stanza six is a short, sharp conclusion. These are the lines Tennyson wants us to remember the Light Brigade by.
