Charge of the Light Brigade

Reaching back into some of the earliest audio recordings that exist, you will find this wax cylinder recording of Alfred Lord Tennyson reading his poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. Due to the poor quality, the text can be followed below. This poem gained popularity immediately after publication in 1854. As Poet Laureate for Britain's Queen, Victoria, the poem chronicled a battle in the Crimean War from that same year. Numerous young Americans of the time were attracted to the glory and honor depicted by Tennyson's writings. In the beginning part of the American Civil War, many youths signed on as volunteers for both sides, looking for adventure and prestige. For many the cause was of secondary importance. It took very little time for them to learn the terrible realities of the conflict to which they were now committed. And for the first time those horrible realities of war could be visually experienced by civilians due to Mathew Brady's photographs.
The Charge of the Light Brigade


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.


[hide]'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers 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 turned 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.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
  Noble six hundred!

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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Thank you for the upload of this original recording.