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Who's The Poet - For Non-British Only


elef

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IMO one of the masterpieces of english literature

 

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!" he said.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

 

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Some one had blunder'd.

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

 

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

Rode the six hundred.

 

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air

 

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre-stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not,

Not the six hundred.

 

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

 

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wonder'd.

Honor the charge they made!

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred!

 

------------------

 

That was the easy question - 2 of the british generals involved are remembered for something else - what?

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By 'non-British', I assume you mean folks for whom English is not their first language ? That's hardly an obscure poem, and I doubt that there is a single BM from Europe or the US who hasnt heard the 'valley of death' part. Its Dien Bien Phu and Blackhawk down, but with horses.

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By 'non-British', I assume you mean folks for whom English is not their first language ? That's hardly an obscure poem, and I doubt that there is a single BM from Europe or the US who hasnt heard the 'valley of death' part. Its Dien Bien Phu and Blackhawk down, but with horses.

 

Yes or no, I wanted to exclude those who read this poem in school - americans probably not. Anzacs and canadians probably!

 

What the heck! It's just for wake up your brains....

 

But the question about the 2 generals are more general and also for commonwealth!

:cheerleader:

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There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all his cash in a bucket.

But his daughter, named Nan,

Ran away with a man

And as for the bucket, Nantucket

But he followed the pair to Pawtucket,

The man and the girl with the bucket;

And he said to the man,

He was welcome to Nan,

But as for the bucket, Pawtucket

Then the pair followed Pa to Manhasset,

Where he still held the cash as an asset,

But Nan and the man

Stole the money and ran,

And as for the bucket, Manhasset

Of this story we hear from Nantucket,

About the mysterious loss of a bucket,

We are sorry for Nan,

As well as the man—

The cash and the bucket, Pawtucket

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Yes or no, I wanted to exclude those who read this poem in school - americans probably not. Anzacs and canadians probably!

 

What the heck! It's just for wake up your brains....

 

But the question about the 2 generals are more general and also for commonwealth!

:cheerleader:

 

 

Lords Raglan and Cardigan both had articles of clothing named after them!

 

 

A further question - the descendant of one of the other generals became notorious many years later for what?

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Lords Raglan and Cardigan both had articles of clothing named after them!

 

 

A further question - the descendant of one of the other generals became notorious many years later for what?

 

It's good to see you here - it's years since we had beers in Gulliver's, Pattaya (I think Mekong was there too at that time).

 

Lord Lucan maybe murdered the nanny of his children.

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

 

I had to look it up.

 

It is the account of what I suspect is the *ONLY* successful cavalry charge against a fortified position in all the history of warfare on Planet Earth. Pickett tried it a few years earlier, at Gettysburg (if memory serves me), unsuccessfully, and the butcher's bill was horrendous.

 

The Light Brigade was successful, but it cost them something like 90% casualties. "Another victory like that and I am undone!" (I don't remember who said it, but I think it was some Roman general.)

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

 

I had to look it up.

 

It is the account of what I suspect is the *ONLY* successful cavalry charge against a fortified position in all the history of warfare on Planet Earth. Pickett tried it a few years earlier, at Gettysburg (if memory serves me), unsuccessfully, and the butcher's bill was horrendous.

 

The Light Brigade was successful, but it cost them something like 90% casualties. "Another victory like that and I am undone!" (I don't remember who said it, but I think it was some Roman general.)

 

I guess it depends on how you define a 'fortified position'. No-one was more shocked by the actions of the Australian Light Horse than their allies ... 1917 was an awfully long time after the events described in the poem, and they were facing a much more 'mechanized' enemy.

 

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/bersheba.html

 

I spent a few months with the 1st Armored Regiment, and they still commemorate Beersheba. Regimental so-and-sos, the 'tankies', but then I guess you need discipline when the estimated lifespan for a tank on the modern battlefield is around 90 seconds.

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