Charge of the Light Brigade

Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892.

Creation of machine-readable version: University of Virginia Rare Book School 1994: course 46: Introduction to Electronic Texts: Susan Charkes, Sharon Eckert, Jon Grennan, David Hedrick, Joseph Jones, Cheryl McKee, Gary Menges, Annette Morris, David Radcliffe, Elena Rekosh, Miranda Remnek, Angela Secrest, Jon Smith, Alan Solomon, Barbara Walden, and Everett Wilkie. Instructor: David Seaman.

Conversion to TEI-conformant markup: University of Virginia Rare Book School 1994: course 46: Introduction to Electronic Texts. Instructor: David Seaman. etext@virginia.edu

Digital images of the original manuscript included from the UVa Special Collections Dept.

Text and images © Copyright 1994 by The Rector and Visitors of The University of Virginia. All rights reserved.

Page 1
Farringford
Freshwater
Isle of Wight

The Charge of the
Light Brigade

Manuscript from University of Virginia Special Collections: ll.1-17.

1 Half a league half a league
2 Half a league onward
3 All in the valley of Death
4 Rode the six hundred:
5 `Forward the Light Brigade
6 Charge for the guns' he said
7 Into the valley of Death
8 Rode the six hundred



2

9 `Forward the Light Brigade!'
10 Was there a man dismay'd?
11 Not tho' the soldier knew
12 Some one had blunder'd:
13 Theirs not to make reply,
14 Theirs not to reason why,
15 Theirs but to do & die,
16 Into the valley of Death
17 Rode the six hundred.

Page 2
Manuscript from University of Virginia Special Collections. ll.18-38.


3.

18 Cannon to right of them,
19 Cannon to left of them,
20 Cannon in front of them
21 Volley'd & thunder'd;
22 Storm'd at with shot & shell,
23 Boldly they rode & well,
24 Into the jaws of Death,
25 Into the mouth of Hell
26 Rode the six hundred.



4

27 Flash'd all their sabres bare,
28 Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
29 Sabring the gunners there,
30 Charging an army while
31 All the world wonder'd:
32 Plunged in the battery-smoke
33 Right thro' the line they broke;
34 Cossack & Russian
35 Reel'd from the sabre-stroke,
36 Shatter'd & sunder'd.
37 Then they rode back, but not
38 Not the six hundred.

Page 3
Manuscript from University of Virginia Special Collections. ll. 39-55.


5

39 Cannon to right of them,
40 Cannon to left of them,
41 Cannon behind them
42 Volley'd & thunder'd;
43 Storm'd at with shot & shell,
44 While horse & hero fell,
45 They that had fought so well
46 Came thro' the jaws of Death
47 Back from the mouth of Hell,
48 All that was left of them
49 Left of six hundred.



6

50 When can their glory fade?
51 O the wild charge they made!
52 All the world wonder'd.
53 Honour the charge they made!
54 Honour the Light Brigade,
55 Noble six hundred!


ATennyson
Apr.10/64.