Hello everyone, and welcome to your lesson today on understanding the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade." I'm Miss Sutherland, and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to explain the events of "Charge of the Light Brigade" and how Tennyson's responsibility as poet laureate shapes his commentary on the Crimean War.

Our four key words today are ballad.

A ballad is a poem narrating a story for future generations to hear.

And indeed "Charge of the Light Brigade" is a ballad.

We'll look into why Tennyson made his poem a ballad later.

Memorialise.

Memorialise means to preserve the memory of or honour or commemorate.

So in "Charge of the Light Brigade," we'll see how Tennyson memorialises the British soldiers.

Euphemism is our next key word.

Euphemism is a mild word or expression substituted for a harsh one.

So someone might use a euphemism if they're trying to be more polite.

And glorification.

Glorification means the action of describing something as admirable, especially unjustifiably.

And we'll see how Tennyson glorifies, potentially, the soldier's bravery in his poem.

Pause the video and note those keywords down now.

In today's lesson, we are going to start by making predictions and reading the poem.

Then we're going to read some contextual information that surrounds the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade" to help us understand the poem further.

So let's start off with making predictions and reading the poem.

So "Charge of the Light Brigade" is a ballad written by Alfred Tennyson.

It was written in 1854.

I want you to make some predictions about what the poem may be about.

A light brigade is a subdivision of an army who are lightly armed and armoured.

So can you discuss with your partner what you think the poem might be about just based on the title? Pause the video and discuss now.

I heard some really interesting discussions.

Well done for noticing that the word charge in this title probably refers to the action of rushing into battle.

So perhaps the poem is about a lightly armed army that charge into a battle.

Here are the first and last lines of the poem.

So we have, "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward." Those are the first lines of the poem.

And, "Honour the light brigade, noble 600" are the last lines of the poem.

How do these beginning and ending lines link to the poem title? Pause the video and discuss that now.

Well potentially we could see the first couple of lines of the poem referencing the soldiers beginning on their march.

They're going half a league onward.

They're supposed to charge half a league onward.

The last lines of the poem reference the very light brigade that the poem is named after.

They're called noble, and we are told to honour them.

Now I want you to think about how the first and last lines link to each other.

Pause the video and discuss that now.

It's really interesting to use the first and last lines of the poem to help shape what we think it might be about.

The next question is what may have happened in the poem between the first and last lines? So the poem starts off with the light brigade being told to march or charge half a league onward.

And it ends with us being told to honour the light brigade and how those 600 men are noble.

So what may have happened in the poem between the first and last lines? Pause the video and discuss now.

Potentially the light brigade charges in to danger, and we are told at the end of this battle to honour these men.

We're going to find out for what exact reason Tennyson tells us to honour the men in the next section of the lesson.

So open your anthology now to the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade." Let's read the whole poem and see if our predictions were correct.

So the poem goes as follows.

Read along with me.

"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 dismayed? Not though the soldier knew someone had blundered.

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 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.

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 through 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.

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 through 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 wondered.

Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, noble six hundred!" That is a very powerful poem.

Discuss with your partner what happens in this poem.

Pause the video and discuss now.

So in this poem, we can clearly see that the cavalry, the subdivision of the British army that rode on horseback, they are charging into battle, and they are clearly greatly outnumbered by the Russian army who defeat them, who defeat them very, very quickly.

And we see that not many men out of 600 make it back alive.

I now want you to discuss are there any other interesting aspects of structure you have noticed in the poem? Pause video and discuss that now.

You may have noticed that the poem has a quite a lot of repetition and that the poem has a very unique rhythm.

We'll explore the reason for those things later.

Let's check your understanding of the poem.

Why did the light brigade go towards the valley of death? Was it because they were given commands to charge for the guns, because they were tricked by the enemy to advance, or because they wanted to sacrifice their lives? Pause the video and answer that question.

The light brigade went towards the valley of death because they were given commands to charge for the guns.

And of course we find out in the poem that the commanding officer that told the light brigade to charge for the guns and go forward had blundered, in other words, had made a mistake and led the army towards danger.

"Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why," reflects the cavalry's fear, shock, obedience, or defiance? Pause the video and answer that question now.

"Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why," reflects the cavalry's obedience.

This is because they don't reply to the command to charge for the guns, nor do they ask why they're charging for the guns.

They just do it.

It showed how the cavalry were dedicated to obeying orders and maybe Tennyson calls into question whether that is ethical.

What happens to the cavalry as they charge forward? Pause the video and answer that question now.

As the cavalry charge forward, they are met with the Russian army who greatly outnumber them, and the brutality of the enemy causes their immense suffering and death.

We see that through the lines, "Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them, volleyed and thundered." We see how there's weaponry all around them and that they suffer a brutal death.

I now want you to complete the table.

Completing this table is going to help you explore your personal response to each stanza, and it's going to help you effectively summarise each stanza in your own words.

So there are six stanzas to this poem.

You need to fill in for each one what stood out to you, and you need to summarise it in your own words.

Pause the video and complete the table now.

Great effort.

Let's take a look at some ideas.

In stanza one, what stands out to me is the phrase "valley of death," because it's the first indication I get there may be danger in this poem.

My summary of stanza one is that the calvary are given orders to charge towards the enemy.

Stanza two, what stands out to me is, "Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die." Something about this is poignant to me.

This section makes me feel a bit regretful about the soldier's obedience, and it makes me wonder what would've happened if they didn't obey those orders.

My summary of stanza two is that someone's error is revealed.

We realise the commanding officer had blundered.

Stanza three.

The violent and graphic imagery stands out to me in stanza three, and we learn that the cavalry are met with strong opposition.

Stanza four.

The sombre end to the stanza stands out to me when we learn that the 600 men do not make it back.

That stands out to me.

My summary of that stanza is the cavalry are quickly being defeated.

Stanza five.

What stands out to me in stanza five is that the cavalry are beginning to be praised.

They're called heroes in stanza five.

And the summary of that stanza is that most of the cavalry die.

Stanza six.

I've noticed here a juxtaposition of glory in this stanza to the stark suffering in previous stanzas.

Tennyson moves away from discussing the shock of the battle and the brutality of the battle and instead glorifies the soldier's bravery in this stanza.

My summary of stanza six is that this stanza almost acts as a memorial for the 600 cavalry men.

It helps us to remember the qualities that they had going into this battle.

Well done on showing your understanding and personal response to this poem.

Let's move on now to look at some in contextual information that will really enhance our understanding of this poem.

In your additional materials, there is some important contextual information about "Charge of the Light Brigade." I want you to read the information, and I want you to highlight any information that you think is key to understanding the poem.

This document talks a bit about Tennyson's role as poet laureate, what was expected of his poetry whilst he was in that role, and it also talks about his inspiration for the poem.

I'll let you read that now.

Off you go.

Great, now I want you to discuss what you learned about the Battle of Balaclava.

Understanding this battle is going to really enhance your understanding of this poem.

So pause the video and discuss that now.

I now want to check your understanding of what you've read.

So as poet laureate, what did some people expect Tennyson to do? Pause the video and answer that question.

As poet laureate, some people expected Tennyson to write about royal and public affairs and British military feats.

So we can probably assume that Tennyson's depiction of the Battle of Balaclava is influenced by his role as poet laureate and the fact that people expected him to celebrate the British military.

When the British charged, what were they met with? Pause the video and answer that question now.

In the Battle of Balaclava, when the British charged, they were met with heavy artillery fire and an enemy army that greatly outnumbered them, and we learned that that was the Russian army in this battle.

So now you've learned a little bit about Tennyson and his role as poet laureate.

I want you to think about how these words are relevant to the poem.

Can you find examples of these in the poem? Pause the video and discuss that now.

So let's look at how glorification is relevant to the poem.

Glorification is relevant to the poem because Tennyson calls the soldiers heroes.

He also asks, "When can their glory fade," and ends with, "Honour the charge they made." All of these quotes show how Tennyson glorifies the bravery of the cavalry.

Memorialise.

This last stanza reads as a memorial to the British soldiers.

And the ballad form allows future generations to hear this story, thus further memorialising the soldiers and their bravery in this battle.

Euphemisms. Tennyson uses a euphemism when he says, "While horse and hero fell." Instead of describing their death, he uses a more polite and socially acceptable way of talking about them dying.

This is potentially to keep the focus on their bravery and how we, as a public, can admire them, rather than describing how the blunder led to their horrific death.

I now want you to discuss.

Why do you think Tennyson decided to write about the Battle of Balaclava in this way? Pause the video and discuss now.

Maybe Tennyson used euphemisms, decided to glorify the soldier's bravery, and wanted this poem to act as a memorial to the British soldiers because his role as poet laureate gave him a duty to celebrate and respect and honour the British military.

And maybe this is what the public were expecting him to do.

I now want you to answer the following questions to deepen your critical understanding of the poem.

Here are the questions.

What aspects of the battle does Tennyson choose to heavily focus on? What aspects do you think he emits or comments less on? How may Tennyson's role as poet laureate have affected the way he wrote about the battle and the blunder? Give examples of where you see this occurring.

What is your personal opinion on the glorification of the cavalry's bravery? And lastly, how is the poem relevant today? You have all of this useful vocabulary to help you with your writing today.

You have ballad, glorification, euphemism, memorialise, poet laureate, and duty.

Pause the video and answer those four questions now.

Excellent effort, I hope you've really now critically examined this poem.

Here are two ways to make your writing more sophisticated.

You can use participle phrases to give extra information about the main action or noun.

Here's an example of how to do that.

"Interested in promoting peace, the UN holds an annual peace conference." Tentative language also can help show that you are expressing an idea about something.

So, "Shelly may have been influenced by King George III." I want you to edit your work to include a participle phrase and tentative language.

Here's an example of how you may start that.

"Being poet laureate, perhaps Tennyson.

." Or, "Interested in preserving his national honour, Tennyson may.

." Both those sentence starters use participle phrases and tentative language.

So pause the video and see if you can fit both of those into your answer.

Off you go.

Brilliant effort everyone.

Remember, it's not just about the content you write about, it's also about the way in which you articulate yourself.

That is really important.

Here's what we've learned today.

The poem documents the lightly armed British cavalry receiving a blundered order and charging into the enemy fire.

Tennyson urges remembrance of the soldier's actions, but also highlights the oversight that led to their deaths.

Poet laureate was an appointment made by the monarch, and Tennyson was appointed this position in 1850.

Tennyson's role as poet laureate may have affected how he would've written about the Battle of Balaclava, and his glorification of the soldier's bravery and use of euphemisms may have reflected his national duty.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson on understanding the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade." I hope this lesson's helped you understand that poem further, and I look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.