The Charge of the Light Brigade

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.

The Charge of the Light Brigade, which has another five stanzas beside the one quoted above, is a poem by Alfred Tennyson concerning a charge of British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Apparently due to miscommunication in the chain of command, the Light Brigade was sent on a frontal assault against a well-prepared artillery battery, and was forced to retreat with heavy casualties. The poem quoted above was published just six weeks after the event and praises the valour in bravely carrying out orders regardless of their suicidal nature.

I was surprised that beside being one of Britain's most popular poets, Tennyson also originated the well-known phrase, "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all".