Tag Archives: "Charge of the Light Brigade"

The Light Brigade’s Charge & Wagner’s

Does “Charge of the Light Brigade” glamorize senseless sacrifice. What would Russian soldiers in Ukraine think?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Wanted: Teachers, Not Martyrs

Some say teachers should, like soldiers, should put their lives on the line. This A.E. Housman poem brings up the question of whether even soldiers should do so when there sacrifice will be meaningless.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Great Pro-War Literature Doesn’t Exist

In which I argue that great pro-war literature doesn’t exist, including “The iliad” and “War and Peace.” (Both works are magnificent; I just don’t see them as pro-war.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

The Soldier Knew Someone Had Blundered

Donald Trump is refusing to take responsibility for the failed Yemen raid where a Navy Seal was killed, along with 30 civilians. The raid brings to mind the “Charge of the Light Brigade,” although more appropriate might be the Rudyard Kipling sequel, where the poet blasted England for failing to take care of the survivors.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Expect No Second Charge in Ukraine

Battling Russian troops 110 years ago in the Crimea, the British light brigade inspired Tennyson. Expect no doomed charge from the West this time.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

When Hostage Taking Backfires

The GOP hostage takers resemble the Light Brigade, as well as the kidnappers in “Ransom of Red Chief,” “Fargo,” and “Ruthless People.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Into Valley of Death Rode the Democrats

The Democrats’ “shellacking” at the hands of the Republicans last week (the description is President Obama’s) has me thinking about Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade.  But perhaps not in the way that you think. Tennyson’s memorable poem commemorated the insane charge by the British cavalry against Russian machine guns at Balaclava in […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed