Poezia din sambata asta este o completare la Domnişorul Georgie. Oda adusa in 1854 de Tennyson comportamentului eroic al trupelor britanice in razboiul din Crimeea e ironizata intr-unul din pasajele din cartea lui Bainbridge (care ne face cunostinta cu unul dintre caii scapati din masacrul Brigazii Usoare britanice – un animal atat de socat de cele intamplate in timpul eroicei sarje incat devenise imbecil). Mi s-a parut interesant contrastul dintre realismul taios al scriitoarei contemporane si iluziile lirice ale contemporanului razboiului respectiv.
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.„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!(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in The Examiner, 9 decembrie 1854)
Blog de carti 
„[…]when we try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British.” – Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
„Lieutenant George: By Gum, this is interesting. I always loved history. The Battle of Hastings, Henry VIII and his six knives, all that.
„Captain Blackadder: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other’s deterrent. That way there could never be a war.
„Private Baldrick: But, this is a sort of a war, isn’t it, sir?
„Captain Blackadder: Yes, that’s right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.
„Private Baldrick: What was that, sir?
„Captain Blackadder: It was bollocks.
„Private Baldrick: So the poor old ostrich died for nothing then.
– Blackadder, season 4, „Blackadder goes forth”
Atîta despre romantism!
😀