The Charge of the Light Brigade

The Charge of the Light Brigade 

Lord Tennyson

I

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.

II

“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.

III

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.

IV

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.

V

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.

VI

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!

I'm probably making a stretch with this post, but when I started to think about what I was learning about Microsoft and Excel in my Educational Technology class, I thought about this poem. Just as there is repetition in this poem, there is repetition in technology. There is a process to making charts, diagrams, data lists, tables and handouts. There is a specific method to the way technology is used. There are formats, formulas and specific knowledge that needs to be utilized. As this poem is also about war and fighting, I would like to state that as a teacher we are always going to be fighting for our students to become engaged in learning. Education is a way to help that process. Also, this poem describes cannons coming from the left and right. As teachers, we will have students that are having so many different cannons going off in their lives, one way we can analyze what is going on is through looking at the data of students and then asking why that students is struggling. And although we will die, our glory will never fade!!