Charge of the Light Brigade - Bransby Williams

Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson a Dramatic Recitation by Bransby Williams famous for his Dickens Characterisations.

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 tho' the soldiers 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 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.

Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air,
Sab'ring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunging 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 in front of 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 the six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
Oh, the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble Six Hundred!
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Modern Historians believe that of the 600+ that rode into the guns only about 122 died, the Russians captured some. The belief that hundreds died lies in that it took many a long time to return and missed the first roll call. Some recovered from wounds. The horses did die in their hundreds, possibly over 300 were killed or put down. By far the biggest killer was disease - 16,000 is a conservative estimate. By the way Florence Nightingale invented Pie Charts!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tennyson
• charge
• light
• brigade
• bransby
• williams
• 78s
• crimea