Half a league, half a league, / Half a league onward"
-- Speaker (Lines 1 – 2)

Importance: These lines open the poem, mentioning the phrase “Half a league” three times and emphasizing the physical distance that separates the soldiers from the battlefield. The repetition of the phrase perhaps gestures to how quickly each distance of half a league is traversed by the Light Brigade, the rhythmic and systematic nature of their advancement. The word “onward” prefigures the use of “Forward” (5) later on in Stanza I in the officer’s command, portraying the dynamic movement of the brigade.

Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.
-- Speaker (Lines 7 – 8)

Importance: The first time the phrase “valley of Death” appears in Stanza I, the soldiers are described as “All in the valley of Death” (3), whereas here they are riding “into” it (4). The preposition “into” contrasts with the previous, more static and passive state of being “all in,” conveying instead the soldiers’ agency...