Tennyson's 1856 poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and Wilfred Owen's 1917 poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" are salient examples of a text being a product of its time. These poems reflect the attitudes and values held in the society they were written. While Tennyson's poem focuses on a key battle of the 1850's Crimean War, Owen's poem presents a juxtaposing perspective on the reality of trench warfare during World War I (1914-1918). Tennyson sheds a positive light on war by celebrating and glorifying it. In stark contrast Owen exhibits an abhorrence of war, with both composers reflecting their personal experiences and the attitudes and concerns of the times in which these poems were composed. .
The text 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Tennyson celebrates the victory of a crucial battle in the Crimean War in 1856 between the British and the Russians. The scene depicts a horrific field of mass destruction imprisoned by cannons on every side being "the valley of death" into which 600 noble soldiers were knowingly riding into. The use of repetition of "Cannon to the left, Cannon to the right" emphasises the countless bombs being shot at them. Similarly the repetition of "the six hundred" at the end of each stanza highlights the unification of the six hundred men who entered the battle courageously with honour and dignity and then when they met their premature demise; "All that was left of them". Rhyme is used to show that with patriotic heads held high, the six hundred rode courageously forward to their own deaths. With the knowledge of what they were approaching, they did not question, but thought of it as their duty to their country, with impassioned rhetoric. "Theirs not to make reply, theirs but to do and die", even when knowing their commander had made a dreadful mistake "someone had blunder'd." Personification is used to present the battle field as a monster that swallows the soldiers as they ride into the valley; "Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell".
