Charge of the Light Brigade: NBSE Class 12 English questions, answers
Here, you will find a summary and questions/answers to the chapter “Charge of the Light Brigade” which is a part of the Class 12 English syllabus for students studying under the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE).
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| Summary and explanations |
| NBSE Class 12 version notes |
| BSEM Class 10 version notes |
A. Read the lines and answer
1. Theirs but to do and die
a) Who is ‘theirs’ in these lines?
b) What are they not to do?
c) What does this tell about ‘them’?
Answer: a) ‘Thiers’ refers to the Light Brigade’s 600 British soldiers.
b) The soldiers are not to respond, nor are they to question.
c) This explains the duties of a soldier. A soldier must simply carry out orders without questioning authority.
2. Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d
a) Describe the scene of war as evident in these lines.
b) What did the soldiers do despite being attacked by cannon from all sides?
c) What, according to the poet, did the world do?
Answer: a. When the soldiers crossed the enemy’s border, they were surrounded by cannons that volleyed and thundered to their right, left, and behind them. They could hear the continuous and simultaneous explosion of a bomb and gunfire.
b. Despite cannon fire from all sides, the soldiers rode bravely forward. They broke through the enemy border line by striking the enemy gunners with their bare sabres.
c. According to the poet, the world looked on in awe because the soldiers fought valiantly despite their captain’s error. The entire world marvelled at their daring charge.
4. When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
a) Whose glory is referred to in the first line? Why will their glory never fade?
b) What is the world wondering over?
c) Why does the narrator call the soldiers ‘noble’?
Answer: a) The first line refers to the glory of the six hundred British soldiers of the light brigade.
According to the poet, the Light Brigade’s glory will never fade because they were brave and bold. The poet wishes to immortalise the bravery of the Light Brigade soldiers.
b) The world is in awe of the bravery of the Light Brigade soldiers who fought against the Cossacks and Russians.
c) The narrator refers to the soldiers as “noble” because they demonstrated high moral principles. They were brave and courageous, not questioning even when they knew someone had made a mistake.
B. Think and answer
1. Even after realising that their commander had ‘blundered’, the soldiers kept charging forward. Write a note on the soldiers as portrayed in the poem.
Answer: The Light Brigade soldiers are portrayed as brave and courageous. Although they were aware of something going wrong, they didn’t contest the military order. The Light Brigade, which was unarmored, launched a frontal assault on a heavy artillery battery. Their mission was to do and die. As a result, they obeyed orders and rode into the Valley of Death. As he describes the battlefield where the soldiers were doomed to die if they rode boldly, the poet emphasises the bravery of the British soldiers. They were surrounded on three sides by cannons and attacked with cannons and guns, but the British soldiers were still able to strike the enemy gunners with their swords and charge at the enemy.
They rode boldly into the artillery smoke and broke through the enemy line, annihilating their Cossack and Russian adversaries. As they rode back from the offensive, they had lost many men and had become “not the six hundred.” Tennyson refers to them as the Noble Six Hundred, and he wants people to remember and honour the soldiers of the Light Brigade. Even today, the soldiers are worthy of honour and tribute, according to the poem.
3. War never does anyone any good. Do you agree with this statement? Elaborate.
Answer: The poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is one of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s most famous poems, written in memory of the English soldiers who died in the Crimean War. It is a memorial to the 600 soldiers, glorifying their bravery.
The effects of battle on soldiers are less well known, but one thing is for sure: war never brings peace and harmony. Instead, it brings with it loss, death, and destruction. War accomplishes nothing. It’s all about upheaval and conflict. The sole purpose of war is to occupy someone’s territory, murder the opposing team, and destroy buildings and possessions. War is unconcerned about people’s lives. War kills not only the enemy, but also innocent people who have nothing to do with the conflict. The death of innocent people can never be justified.
Take, for example, the Second World War 1945 conflict between the United States and Japan, which resulted in massive destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two US bombings killed thousands of people, the majority of whom were civilians.
Thus, war creates horrific and terrifying images that only highlight the darkest and ugliest aspects of people, the environment, and the world. As a result, it is never beneficial to anyone.
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