Classic Poetry Aloud

Tennyson read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/

Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

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The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 – 92)

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!

To learn more about the history of the Charge of Light Brigade, I strongly recommend listening to In Our Time: The Charge of The Light Brigade, via one of these links:

http://209.85.62.159/audio/channels/in_our_time
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20080110-1115.mp3
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=73330895

And here are two articles on the Charge of the Light Brigade, reflecting on why it is such a large piece of British culture, despite being militarily unimportant:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3944699.stm

http://www.uea.ac.uk/edu/learn/braysher/charge.htm

And this is an extract of Tennyson reading his poem:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/tennyson.shtml