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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.

“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!

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Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" https://englishhistory.net/tennyson/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade/, January 21, 2022

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