War Poetry Post 1900 Looking at different war poems written before and after 1900, I can see that many elements of the types of poetry change significantly in different ways. I will look at a selection of war poems written by three different poets, in chronological order, so as to see whether attitudes towards war and writing styles change over time or during the various phases of the war. First I will look at a poem written by Alfred Tennyson about the charge against Russian artillerymen in 1854. The poem is called "The Charge of the Light Brigade" since that is exactly what happened. The information Tennyson used to write the poem came from a Times newspaper article. Tennyson used the information very well to provide an accurate and informative, yet poetic, description of the charge. Although Tennyson is writing from secondary information, he still incorporated poetic and rhythmic effects to make the poem follow a rhythm similar to that of a galloping horse. “Half a league, half a league, half a league onwards,” the distance of the charge is given at the beginning of the poem as it begins directly at the charge. Even though the article written in the newspaper reads "At a distance of 1,200 yards"', Tennyson changed it to a similar distance making the information poetic to read. By starting the charge at the beginning of the poem, Tennyson immediately captured the reader's attention while providing the relevant information for the poem to tell the story of what happened. Tennyson greatly glorifies the soldiers by using dramatic language and graphic images that can be vividly formed in the minds of the reader. "All in Death Valley, rode the six hundred." The dramatic language here makes it seem as if only the unusually small amount of knights used in such a charge are charging into hell itself. Tennyson continues to glorify the bravery of the soldiers throughout the poem, "Boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of death," but the emphasis he uses on death makes the accusation seem futile and makes it seem as if the men are charging towards their own death. 3 and 5 seem very similar when reading the poem, however in contrast the charge is towards the artillerymen in line 3 while it is the retreat in line 5. Yet Tennyson always maintains the repetition of 600 throughout the poem, even when they are retreating and many of them have already killed, he continues to call them a group of six hundred who make up the Light Brigade.