[PB NOTE: There are 2 folders entitled "poetry". One stands alone inside htdocs. The other is inside "furtherinfo". I think I simply duplicated the poetry folder, and put one in furtherinfo. I then did a find-and-change to make the links from furtherinfo/index_poetry.html work. The latter is probably the one to stick with. But check whether the preferred copies of poems (which should be in furtherinfo/poetry) are indeed the latest/best. Should be fine. But be wary, and double-check links work and lead to best versions/latest dates etc.]
The Charge is unthinkable without "The Charge". Tennyson's poem had a profound and lasting effect on establishing the significance of the Charge, and in creating a language with which to describe and think about it. It is no accident that many of the key books on the Charge use or adapt phrases from his poem ("Honour the Light Brigade", " ", and so on).
Without it, Chargers too would have [had very different lives]. More generally, without poetry both the Charge and Chargers would probably have been completely forgotten. Poetry and song has been key in creating, sustaining, and in a sense "memorialising" the Charge and Chargers.
Tennyson's poem is the single most important work, but in fact there is an extraordinary amount and variety of poetry (and song) featuring the Charge, and not just from the nineteenth century — there are numerous examples throughout the following century, and they are still being written and performed today (including Andrew Motion's "The Dog of the Light Brigade", and Iron Maiden's "The Trooper", which also spawned a brand of beer).
I have come across a number of poems in EJB's archive, including an unexpurgated version of Kipling's "Last of the Light Brigade", and Anon's "Matches". There were also poems included in several Charger accounts he collected. (Itself an interesting phenomenon — it is hard to imagine modern memoirists quoting poetry at such length.)
I have also added a number of poems (and songs or ballads) not in Patrick Waddington's impressive collection of Charge poetry, Theirs but to do or die (date), including some by or about particular soldiers (e.g. Gowing, Crawford, Cardigan, Clevland, Wombwell). I have not yet consulted this work but was greatly encouraged to search further by its table of contents. I have yet to locate some of the poems he includes, but hope eventually to do so. Where poems are known to be in Waddington, I have given page references in square brackets.
I have also included numerous examples of derivative and parodic works, mainly related to Tennyson's "Charge". Walter Hamilton's Parodies was very helpful here, but obviously included nothing after its publication in 1884. I have also been rather more inclusive than Hamilton, even for his period — he clearly valued "cleverness", and excluded works he thought of as "slangy" (his term). Among recent pastiches, some are frankly obscene. These would not have been included either.
As for the Charge in novels, I hope to create separate section on this site. But where novelists clearly use phrases derived from Tennyson's poem, I have included some references here (e.g. James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, and Virginia Woolf's, To the Lighthouse).
Above all, I am scratching at the seam of song, rhyme and phrase about the Charge (and Chargers) in "popular culture". Among these rich pickings are adverts, which are often irreverent or facetious. I would argue that even these keep the Charge alive generation after generation.
Transcriptions are usually, but not always, my own. I have made some attempt to reflect the original typography, but not slavishly so. Sources are given below each poem, together with notes.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", (The Examiner, 9 December 1854 — first published version), ["Half a league, half a league, half a league onward..."].
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", (definitive version, date), ["Half a league, half a league, half a league onward..."]. [PW p.13]
George Barlow, "Sonnet XXXV. Balaclava", (1883), ["Along the valley the wild riders speed..."]. [PW p.158]
Michael Joseph Barry, "The Charge of Balaklava", (1883), ["Morn smiles, serene, on sea and land..."]. [PW p.123]
T.P. Bell, extract from The Young Hero, or The Home, Life & Brilliant Military Career of Archibald Clevland, Esq., of Tapeley Park, Instow, North Devon, Cornet, 17th Lancers, (1862), ["Sweet night! hath fled: - up the bright Eastern sky Day walks with his own majesty!"].
William Cox Bennett, "Balaclava", (date), ["Balaclava, Balaclava, Far thy still and grassy plain Thick is strewn with England's bravest..."]. [PW p.112]
Edward E. Bowen, "An Episode of Balaclava (The death of Captain George Lockwood, 8th Hussars)", (date), ["When slow and faint from off the plain Pale wrecks of sword and gun, Torn limbs, and faces racked with pain..."].
Edward Capern, "The Fall of the Brave: Addressed to his Bereaved Parent" [On the death of Archibald Clevland, 17th Lancers], (1855), ["Deep in the foeman's mold he lies, The youthful and the brave; Without a stone to speak his worth, Or mark the soldier's grave."].
Richard Chandler, "Balaclava" (1875), ["The scribbler in safety may fairly enlarge On the blunders we made in that terrible charge..."]. [PW p.147].
Richard Chenevix-Trench, "Balaklava", (date), ["Many a deed of faithful daring may obtain no record here..."]. [PW p.43.]
J.N. Crampton, extract from The Fall of Sebastopol, (date), ["At length, in Balaklava's Plain, Liprandi aim'd a blow Which, if successful, once again, Might cheer our drooping foe..."]. [PW p.119.]
Sydney Dobell, "The Cavalry Charge", (date), ["Traveller on foreign ground, whoe'er thou art, Tell the great tidings!"]. [PW p.75.]
Sir Francis Hastings Charles Doyle, "Balaclava", (date), ["Thin glancing threads of English horse, Why do your haughty trumpets wake?"]. [PW p.144.]
Earl of Ellesmere, "Lines on the 'The Charge of The Light Brigade at Balaklava'", (date), ["They said we were coxcombs - they said we were born In the sunshine of peacetime like insects to fly; The jester and the novelist made us his scorn And lecturing hypocrites joined in the cry..."]. [PW p.33 — calls it "Balaclava".]
John Arthur Elliott, Slade Murray, Oh! 'Tis a Famous Story, (date), ["Six hundred stalwart warriors of England's pride the best, Did grasp the lance and sabre on Balaclava's crest..." [PW calls it "Balaclava. (Oh 'Tis a Famous Story!)" p.159, and attributes it to Elliott] [PW p.159]. Also a "folk" version, from oral tradition, included in Karl Dallas, The Cruel Wars: 100 Soldiers' Songs from Agincourt to Ulster.]
Robert Franklin, extract from Notes on the War and the Blessing of Peace (date), ["Who draws the sword, in righteous cause, Deserves indeed our warm applause; To aid the weak and check the strong Is worthy of the poets song..."]. [PW p.127]
G.S.G. Charge of the Light Brigade (before 1890), ["Down the "Valley of Death" with thundering knell, Poured a hurricane hail of shot and bursting shell..."
Sergeant Timothy Gowing, The Noble Six Hundred, (date), ["The wind of dawn is breathing, the mists of night are wreathing Up from the valley in white swathes, the mountain range is sheathing..."]. [PB: I think this must be Punch/Tom Taylor's poem: Timothy Gowing, The Noble Six Hundred". Check.]
Sergeant Timothy Gowing and Private A. Crawford, What Have You Seen In The Crimea?, (date), ["I have seen majestic nature in grandeur displayed, With the hills and the valleys which the ocean hath made; I've seen the eagle and vulture with pinions extended, And battles so well fought that no hero could mend it..."].
Charles Richard Harrington, "A Lay of Balaclava Fray. 25th October 1854 (inscribed to the memory of the late Surgeon-Major Lancelot Armstrong, one of the Six Hundred at Balaclava)", (1907), [On Balacalava's famed field, Where roared the Russian cannonade, Defiant flashed six hundred swords When charged the Light Brigade.]
Caroline Hayward, "The Battle of Balaclava, and the Unparalleled Heroic, but Deeply to Be Lamented Charge of the Light Cavalry, through a Mistaken Order", (date), ["Morn broke! around the mountains grey, The fleecy vapours lightly play; Fresh in the bright sun's glad'ning beam, The sparkling waves below are seen - But hark! the spattering musket roll..."]. [PW p.108.]
George Roberts Hedley, "The Balaclava Charge", (1888), ["Forth flew the dire command For Lucan to advance, Forth dashed his gallant band, Swift as a meteor's glance..."]. [PW p.142.]
James Barron Hope, "The Charge at Balaklava", (date), ["Nolan halted where the squadrons, Stood impatient of delay, Out he drew his brief dispatches, Which their leader quickly snatches, At a glance their meaning catches; They are ordered to the fray!"]. [PW p.102.]
Julia Ward Howe, "Balaklava", (date), ["They gave the fatal order, Charge! And so, the light Brigade went down..."]. [PW p.133.]
Private Thomas Hurst, 1121, 8th Hussars "Quick comes a breathless aide-de-camp with orders in his hand", fragment, (18??), [""Quick comes a breathless aide-de-camp with orders in his hand, he rides up to Lord Lucan and gives him the command..."]. [Not in PW.]
Rudyard Kipling, "The Last of the Light Brigade", (date), ["There were thirty million English who talked of England's might, There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night..."]. [PW p.168.]
Alfred Knott, "Balaklava. The Light Brigade Charge", (date), ["To o'ercome yon dense mass surely hope there is none; Yet the gauntlet of death they make ready to run..."]. [PW p.44.]
Alan Lavercombe "1854 an' all that (T' Charge of T' Light Brigade)", (date?), ["T'were the twenty-fifth day of October At the height of the Crimean War, And our lot were fighting the Russians, 'Cos we 'adn't fought t'Russians before."]. Originallyhere [16.10.2021: link now appears broken]. [Check that it's not in PW.]
M.M., "One of the Light Brigade", (date), ["Speed the news! Speed the news! Speed the news onward! Died of starvation, one of the Six Hundred..."]. [Not in PW (?).]
Westland Marston, The Death Ride, (date), ["We sat mute on our chargers, a handful of men, As the foe's broken columns swept on to the glen, Like torn trees when the whirlwind comes: Cloven helm and rent banner grew dim to our ken, And faint was the throb of their drums."]. [PW p.37.]
T. Gerald Massey, "Balaklava", (date), ["We weep not for the Heroes whom we never more shall see, We weep we were not with them in their ruddy revelry!"]. [PW p.73.]
T. Gerald Massey, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", (date?), ["Sit proud in your saddles! grip tighter each blade! We ride, ho, we ride a magnificent raid! To-day win a glory that never shall fade. Old England for ever! Hurrah!"]. [PW p.73.]
Alexander Beaufort Meek, "Balaklava", (date), ["Oh, the charge at Balaklava!
Oh, that rash and fatal charge Never was a fiercer, braver, Than that charge at Balaklava..."]. [PW p.89.]
Thomas Monkman, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", (1890), ["Is this the mighty England we boast so much about? While every time a hero lands we drum and cheer and shout; Is this the mighty England that would rather die than yield ? ].
James Nunnerley, "The Light Brigade", (date?), ["Hail [sic] comrades of the fearful fight On Balaklava's bloody day!"]. [TIDY UP. CHECK TEXT & SOURCE. Is it by Nunnerley?] [Not in PW (?).]
James Nunnerley, "To the Memory of the Noble Leader, Lord Cardigan", (date?), ["Rise, Comrades! lift the gleaming glass, Gay laughter now is fled, >In solemn silence we will drink]. [TIDY UP. Punctuation? CHECK TEXT & SOURCE. Is it by Nunnerley?] [Not in PW (?).]
James O'Malley, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", (date?), ["Blow the bugle! sound the trumpet Let the clarion's thrilling cry, Borne upon the passing breezes, Speak defiance far and nigh!"]. [CHECK TEXT & SOURCE. Is it by O'Malley, which seems unlikely? But if not he, who? ]
James Rolmaz, "He's only a pensioner! an old man blind and lame", [fragment], (c.1891), ["He's only a pensioner! an old man blind and lame; He's only a pensioner! who won a hero's name; He fought at Balaclava and made the Russians fly, But now when he's old, he's left in the cold, to starve or to die..."]. [Not in PW.]
Ann Rosslyn, "One of the Light Brigade", (date), ["A room in a lodging-house dreary, Where never a comfort is found, The close of a noble life story, The great heedless city around..."]. [Not in PW (?).]
Walter J. Savage, "The Balaclava Hero", (date), ["An' so yer George's little girl, an' cum to nurse me too, I likes yer face an' manners an' I reckon that yer'll do..."].
Alexander Smith, "The Cavalry Charge", (date), ["We mourn them with remorseful tenderness, And yet, methinks, our tears should be denied By a proud effort. When they so have died, What is a little breathing more or less?"]. [PW p.76.]
William Smith, Trumpeter, 11th Hussars, "Balaclava", (date), ["The morn was cold and dreary, The wind blew o'er the plain; Our men stood to their horses, Holding bit and rein..."].
Henry Sewell Stokes, "Balaclava", (1855), ["BALACLAVA! let the name Sound through all the lists of Fame, Let it on the banner flame, And on story's pages..."]. [PW p.76.]
Punch [attributed to Tom Taylor], "The Battle of Balaklava", (date), ["THE wind of dawn is breathing, the mists of night are wreathing Up from the valley, in white swathes the mountain ranges sheathing..."]. [PW p. ]
Rev. E.L.H. Tew [sp?], "Half a century behind us" , [untitled, first line], (1904), ["Half a century behind us Lies the day that ne'er shall fade, Day when Balaclava's glory Gleaned upon the Light Brigade..."].
James Williams, "After Balaclava", (date), ["The fierce wild charge was over; back to old England's shore Were borne her gallant troopers, who ne'er would battle more; In hospital at Chatham, by Medway's banks they lay, Dragoon, hussar, and lancer, survivors of the fray..."]. [Not in PW ?]
Sarah Williams, "At the Breach", (date), ["All over for me The struggle and possible glory! All swept past, In the rush of my own brigade..." [is this about the Charge?]
[PB: I'm not sure how useful this distinction is, but it seems in some cases a poem was reprinted (e.g. by Doughton in his Narrative), but not properly attributed. These are not strictly anon.]
Anon/unknown [from Doughton, Narrative], Battle of Balaklava (1856?), ["Early the trumpet wakes the slumbering clouds That rest on Balaklava's mountain steep; And, pealing through the hills and tented fields, Rouses the warriors from their weary sleep..."]. [Not in PW?]
Anon, Punch, "Balaklava" (1856?), ["What master hand shall set on the right path These our blind guides, that wander to and fro? What pen shall write the nation's helpless wrath? What cry shall speak its woe?"].
Anon, Punch, "Brown and Jones" (date), ["Vulgar? How sad! But then he spoke Of vulgar, low, and common things, Such as with gay WAT TYLER joke, A Viscount to oblivion flings..."].
Anon, Punch, "The Light Cavalry Chaunt" (date), ["Oh, I'm a light cavalry trooper so trim I stand five foot seven, I'm slender of limb; I'm small in the waist and not big in the bone, And yet for all that, Sir, I ride twenty stone..."].
Anon, Punch, "The Order of Valour" (1856?), ["Some talk of Alexander,< And some of Hercules, And many a great commander As glorious as these; But if you want a hero Of genuine pluck and pith. It's perfectly clear there's none comes near To full British Private Smith..."].
Anon, "Matches" (1890? 1892?), ["The moon looked o'er the city through the rifts of a hurrying storm. Its darting [?] glimpses lighting up a bent and tattered form..."].
Anonymous Ballad, "Under the British Flag" (date), ["I am a valiant soldier Of the dashing light brigade, And of war's dreadful horrors, I never feel afraid..."].
Anonymous Ballad, "Heights of Balaklava" (date), ["His watch, on Balaklava's heights The weary sentry kept, In silence from Sebastopol A host unnumbered crept..."].
Anon/unknown, "Prologue Written for a Dramatic Performance Given in Aid of the Lancashire Relief Fund in 1862", (date), ["When threatened England's honour or repose, The British soldier well his duty knows - To mount, to march, to fight, to fall, to die, But never weakly yield or basely fly!"]. [Not in PW (?).]
Anon. "Alma — Balaklava — Inkermann" (1855), ["Shouts of triumph from our heroes by the Euxine's trembling shore, Shrieks of sorrow from our homesteads — they are mingling evermore..."].
Fragment of an anonymous, untitled poem recited at "The Veterans' Fete", reported in The Era, 11 January 1908: "Behold where in the gutter he doth stand. A box of matches in his feeble hand.".
Iron Maiden, "The Trooper", (19??). ["You'll take my life but I'll take yours too. You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through..."].
Manfred Mann, "5-4-3-2-1", (1964), [""].
Andrew Motion, "The Dog of the Light Brigade", (date), [CHECK TEXT: "We have to remember: when Raglan and others decided that hour had come, and did as they felt, and ordered their mess-mates and countrymen yes, the noble six hundred, most of whom never had even so much as imagined what shooting and shelling were like, away from the Shires..."].
The Tallywags, " Charge of the Light Brigade", (2018), ["What a palava, at Balaclava"]. [Unofficial World Cup anthem.]
Roger Whittaker, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", (1962?), ["The Charge of the Light Brigade went down in history"].
Anon, "Charge of the Light Brigade", advert for Sapolio Soap, Huddersfield Chronicle, ["On the floors, on the doors, poor slavey wonder'd..."] (1887), [""].
Anon, "Charge of the Skye Brigade"
["Half a leage, half a league, four abreast onward..."] (1882), [""].
Anon, Punch, "Charge of the Black Brigade"
["Half a day, half a day, Sped the clocks onwards..."] (1868), [""].
Anon, Punch, The Charge of the Court Brigade,
["Half a yard, half a yard, half a yard onward..."] (1874), [""].
Anon, South Wales Daily Post, "Charge of the Light Brigade"
["Arf a mo, Arf a mo, Arf a mo, onward..."] (1910), [""].
Billy Bennett, "The Charge of the Tight Brigade",
["Half a league, half a league, football league onward..."] (19??), [""].
Bernard Newman, "The Charge of the Tight Brigade",
["Half a yard, half a yard, Half a yard onward..."](1926?), [""].
Ezra Pound, "The Charge of the Bread Brigade",
["Half a loaf, half a loaf, half a loaf? Urn-hum?..."] (19??), [""].
Mary S. Wheeler, "The Charge of the Rum Brigade" [Temperance Movement] ,
["All in league, All in league, All in League onward"] (date?), [""].
Anon. "The Village Choir",
["Half a bar, half a bar, half a bar onward..."] (19??), [""].
The Charge of the Light Brigade, the historical event, is in effect impossible to distinguish from the "The Charge of the Light Brigade", Tennyson's poem. Allusions and references shift between one and the other.
Manfred Mann, "5-4-3-2-1", (1964), [""].
William McGonagall, "The Death and Burial of Lord Tennyson", (date), [""].
Anon, Punch, "Oh! Pantaloons of Cherry" (1854), [""].
Anon, Punch, "The Order of Valour" (185?), [""].
Edith Sitwell, "When Sir Beelzebub", (19??), [""].
James Joyce, Finnegan's Wake (date), [""].
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (date), [""].
Some refer back directly to the Charge itself, or parody Tennyson, but others express outrage at what has become of old Chargers.
Parodic composite of well-known poems, including Tennyson's "Charge", by Vincent Capriani (date?): here.
"The Charge of the Twenty-First", another monologue/poem/song from Slade Murray, with several references to the Light Brigade Charge, here.
"The Meeting of the Clans", here.
"The Turkey and the Bear", here.
"In London", here [Vesta Tilley - looks VERY interesting.]
"Second Hand Clothes", here.
"Up To Date (A Muddled Medley)", here.
"A Dream of the Albert Hall", here.
"Don't I Wish I Had 'Em", here.
"When Poor Old Father Tried to Kill the Cock-a-Doodle-Doo", here.
Paul Carey, "The Charge of the Snail Brigade", ["Half a leaf, half a leaf, half a leaf onward, into the garden crawled the six hundred..."], http://www.paulcarey.net/Music/Charge_Snail_Brigade.htm. Performed here: http://www.paulcarey.net/Audio/Charge%20of%20the%20Snail%20Brigade.mp3
Airfarcewon, no title, ["Incandesce, incandesce, incandesce, onward, Guard, they, the valley of bulbs...", http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/alfredlordtennysonperformedbyalfalfa0.shtml
Anon?, no title, ["Half a tile, half a tile, half a tile onward..."], https://www.reddit.com/r/civbattleroyale/comments/3wkpi9/charge_of_the_light_brigade_a_civ_v_poetry_parody/
Michael Pacholek, "A Charged Amiright Parade", ["Half a line, half a line, half a line onward..."], http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/lordtennyson0.shtml
Playfoul Pessimist, "The Charge of the Light Switchblade", ["Half a length, half a length, half a length onward..."]
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