The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of peace, but where he stands in moments of trial. More importantly, who he stands with during moments of trial. Loyalty is an uncommon yet necessary trait in this advanced world. Loyalty though weaves in with bravery, and together they form a tapestry full of wisdom. This tapestry is an important item to have when dealing with failure. This is shown in the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade in response to a battle wherein the British cavalry charged over open terrain in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. He uses his unique perspective on honor and courage to expand our outlook on failures and heroes. His poem invokes awakening in the reader through the cruel reality it exposes. It strikes a nerve in the reader which floods harsh, gory, and even guilty memories of warfare into their mind. Tennyson’s composition defines bravery through a man’s display of heroism and loyalty in the face of trial, as well as the bravery it takes to fail. The inexorable attempt this poem takes to bring glory to these 600 soldiers cannot be ignored.
Furthermore, the attempt to bring glory to those who try without hesitation and fail without shame, which is who those 600 soldiers are, cannot be ignored. In the second stanza, it says, “Not though the soldier knew/ Someone had blundered./Theirs not to make reply,/ Theirs not to reason why,?/ Theirs but to do and die” The meaning of these six lines is showing how even though the soldiers think the command they received was unreasonable, which it was, they fulfilled their duties even though they knew it meant death. They were loyal to their leaders and they bravely obeyed this command as well. These soldiers were brave, even in a situation where bravery is not an easy trait to possess. They were loyal to their general, fellow soldiers, and country and brave to the fullest extent.
Therefore, these 600 men were examples of true heroes. The uneasy feeling evoked by this situation the soldiers are facing… When asked what being a hero means to them, new generations dive into a world of fantasy and superpowers. When actually, heroes are all around us. That being true, most heroes are told that they are worthless and that the scarce qualities they possess aren’t wanted in this self-centered world. In result, people are afraid to take risks because they are afraid to mess up. When actually, making a mistake is the best way to authenticate a true hero. The famous 600 soldiers in this famous poem made a lot of mistakes, and that is the reason they are so honored. Lines __ and __ say, ‘Though not the soldier knew,/ Someone had blundered.’ This shows the first, and the most important, mistake made. This mistake was the inciting incident and the spark that lit the flame.
The meaning of these two lines is that the soldiers didn’t know that someone had altered the command they were given. What’s more, the new and altered command was, ‘Charge for the guns, he said,’. So now the soldiers were being falsely commanded to charge for the opponents. These 600 men were being told to challenge the entire other armies.
