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V.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them,

Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of Six Hundred.

VI.

When can their glory fade?
Oh, the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered!
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble Six Hundred !

ANALYSIS.-43. Stormed at, etc. What does the phrase modify? 44. horse and hero. Explain.

45. Parse the adverbs in the line.

46. Point out the figure.

47. Name the figure in this line.

48. With what is All in apposition? Why is that preferable to who or which in this line?

49. Parse the word Hundred.

50. What figure in the line?

51 Point out the figure.

52. What figure in this line?

53 Dispose of the word Honor, Supply the ellipsis in this line.

54 Supply the ellipsis in this line.

55. Give the grammatical construction of Noble Six Hundred.

Give the prosody of this poem. Mention other poems written by Tennyson in the capacity of poet-laureate.

Give the etymology of the word poet-laureate.

On what does the appointment to the laureateship depend?

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THE CHARGE OF THE HEAVY BRIGADE.

[For study and analysis.]

NOTE. The charge of the Three Hundred of the Heavy Brigade, under Major-General Sir James Y. Scarlett, was as brilliant and heartstirring a dash as that of the Light Brigade, and more fortunate. Moving along the valley with some seven hundred troopers, well within the British lines, as he supposed, he was astonished to see a body of three thousand Russian horse emerge along the top of the ridge half a mile away. Immediately they bore down on his squadrons, which were without support, and which, indeed, were so divided that less than three hundred of the Inniskillings and Scots Greys were immediately at hand. The Russians drew up to within a few hundred yards, and for some unaccountable reason halted, when General Scarlett ordered his men to attack, and himself rode forward at full pace against the Russian centre. In the movement forward he got fifty yards in advance of his men, who were slightly delayed in their charge up the hill by the ropes of some tents not yet quite struck. Mounted on powerful horses, he and his three attendantsElliott, his aide-de-camp, a trumpeter, and the gigantic orderly Shegog-broke through the Russian lines, and his three hundred, following immediately after, did the same. It was impossible by mere impact to beat backward up the hill a force ten times as large as their own; and so they fought their way through it, jammed in the melée of men and horses, saved by their superior height and reach of arm, smiting with one hand and with the other dragging the riders from their seats. Then they found the enemy faced about to their rear, and again they fought their way through, back to where they started. Meanwhile, the wings of the Russians, which had been extended to right and left, and had been closed to embrace the fated British as in the hug of a bear, were now smitten by the remainder of the Heavy Brigade, which had been hurried along to aid their engaged comrades. Their onset, added to the confusion already caused, threw the Russians into utter disorder, and they hurried confusedly up and over the hill, leaving the field in the hands of the British.-New York Independent.

I.

THE charge of the gallant Three Hundred, the Heavy Brigade!
Down the hill, down the hill, thousands of Russians,
Thousands of horsemen, drew to the valley-and stayed.
For Scarlett and Scarlett's Three Hundred were riding by
When the points of the Russian lances broke in on the sky; 5
And he called, “Left wheel into line!" and they wheeled and

obeyed.

Then he looked at the host that had halted, he knew not why, And he turned half round, and he bade his trumpeter sound To the charge!" and he rode on ahead, as he waved his blade To the gallant Three Hundred, whose glory will never die: Follow, and up the hill!"

Up the hill, up the hill, followed the Heavy Brigade.

II.

The trumpet, the gallop, the charge, and the might of the

fight!

Down the hill slowly thousands of Russians

10

Drew to the valley and halted at last on the height,

15

With a wing pushed out to the left, and a wing to the right.

But Scarlett was far on ahead, and he dashed up alone

Through the great gray slope of men;

And he whirled his sabre; he held his own

Like an Englishman there and then;

20

And the three that were nearest him followed with force,
Wedged themselves in between horse and horse,
Fought for their lives in the narrow gap they had made,
Four amid thousands; and up the hill, up the hill,
Galloped the gallant Three Hundred, the Heavy Brigade.

III.

Fell like a cannot-shot,

Burst like a thunderbolt,

Crashed like a hurricane,

Broke through the mass from below,

Drove through the midst of the foe,
Plunged up and down, to and fro,
Rode, flashing blow upon blow,

25

30

Brave Inniskillings and Greys,

Whirling their sabres in circles of light.
And some of us, all in a maze,

Who were held for a while from the fight,
And were only standing at gaze

When the dark-muffled Russian crowd

Folded its wings from the left and the right,

And rolled them around like a cloud

40

Oh! mad for the charge and the battle were we,

When our own good red-coats sank from sight,

Like drops of blood in a dark gray sea;

And we turned to each other, muttering, all dismayed,

Lost are the gallant Three Hundred, the Heavy Brigade!" 15

IV.

But they rode like victors and lords

Through the forests of lances and swords;
In the heart of the Russian hordes,

They rode, or they stood at bay;

Struck with the sword-hand and slew;
Down with the bridle-hand drew

The foe from the saddle, and threw
Under foot there in the fray;

Raged like a storm, or stood like a rock
In the wave of a stormy day;

Till suddenly, shock upon shock,
Staggered the mass from without;

For our men galloped up with a cheer and a shout,
And the Russians surged and wavered and reeled
Up the hill, up the hill, up the hill, out of the field,
Over the brow and away.

V.

Glory to each and to all, and the charge that they made.
Glory to all the Three Hundred, the Heavy Brigade!

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355

20. MRS. ELIZABETH (BARRETT) BROWNING,

1809-1861.

MRS. BROWNING, formerly MISS BARRETT, was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1809. It is said that she began to compose verses as early as the age of ten, and, receiving encouragement from her friends, she issued a volume entitled An Essay on Mind, and Other Poems, when but seventeen years of age. Her first successful poem, however, which appeared in 1833, was her translation of Prometheus Bound, from the Greek dramatist Eschylus. From 1838 to 1844 she published a number of poems, and in the latter year her writings were collected and published in two volumes. About the year 1840 the bursting of a blood-vessel confined her to her room for a twelvemonth, and her failing health compelled her to seek a milder climate. She accordingly went to Torquay. In 1846 she married Robert Browning, himself a poet of great merit, and they made Florence their permanent home. Mrs. Browning soon found herself sympathizing deeply with the cause of the suffering Italians, and, witnessing the revolutionary outbreak of 1848, she found an excellent theme for her next important poem, Casa Guidi Windows, which gives the impressions of the writer upon events in Tuscany as she witnessed them from the windows of her own house, the Casa Guidi in Florence.

Mrs. Browning's greatest poem is Aurora Leigh, a poeticai novel in blank verse, which appeared in 1856. It consists largely of an expression of her decided opin

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