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For this activity, you will need to turn to the poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and 'Bayonet Charge' by Ted Hughes. Both poems can be found in the Power and Conflict section of your anthology.
'The Charge of the Light Brigade' and 'Bayonet Charge' are poems that describe the horror of war and the chaos it brings. The Charge of the Light Brigade creates a description of the soldiers under heavy fire and creates sympathy for the men, who the reader is told have very little chance of surviving the battle. Similarly, in Bayonet Charge, the soldier is in the middle of a war zone fighting for his life. Both perspectives are from the viewpoint of soldiers with a duty to fight for their country and question the idea of blind patriotism.
In the following questions, you will look further at the similarities between the two poems.
You should always refer to your own text when working through these examples. These quotations are for reference only.
