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So when it comes to context, know it but don’t harp on about it. Your ability to write a page about the causes of the conflict in the Crimea in the 1850s is wonderful. Context and/or perspectives and/or ideas. Remember too that the mark for context also covers a mark for perspectives and/or ideas. In other words, what do you need to know to make sense of the poem? What I want to know is how the context of the poem was important for the content of the poem. If you’re reaching your third sentence on context, you have gone too far! If you are telling your examiner what happened in the Charge of the Light Brigade, you’re also going into an essay dead end. Full paragraphs about Tennyson or about the Battle of Balaclava will be treated as if they are an incongruous little physics equation or chemical calculation or artwork in the middle of your essay… nice, but not the domain of English Literature, and fairly unmarkable for the average GCSE English Literature student. Don’t forget that you are not writing a GCSE History essay and you are not expected to write more than a couple of sentences here and there where it is relevant. In terms of context, what you may want to know is a little about Tennyson and a little about the battle itself. It recounts a battle between the British and the Russian forces in the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 and it precedes later poems in the Power and Conflict section of the AQA GCSE English Literature poetry anthology such as Bayonet Charge and Exposure where conflict is explored in a critical way. The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson is a poem that recounts extreme acts of valour and patriotism.
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