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Most of us are probably familiar with the 25th October 1854 story of the Light Brigade, and the ghastly error causing its abortive charge and devastation against the Russian guns on the field of Balaclava, during the siege of the arsenal at Sebastopol in the Crimean War. (Geographers please help us locate).

It's a story of foolhardiness, and the tremendous bravery of 607 British cavalrymen (of whom only 198 survived) in the face of political and military blunders, a misunderstood order, and the epitome of a futile war. Later Florence Nightingale entered the fray as an angel of medical mercy.

Here is that heroic episode described in poetry by a master craftsman - Alfred Lord Tennyson:

The Charge of the Light Brigade

I
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.

II
'Forward the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not reason why,
Their's 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
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed 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
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.

V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed 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.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

(Comments welcome from literary scholars on the interesting triple use of the apostrophe in the word their's in stanza II.)

Maybe this valiant incident will inspire visitors to take a closer look into the story of this war, described by one French commander who witnessed the charge as: 'C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.' (Linguists please help us here!) And the later British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury's famous classic remark about the war: 'In favouring Turkey we put our money on the wrong horse.' 

Hope you enjoy Alfred's great poem . . .

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