Maud, and Other Poems (1855) is a collection by Alfred Tennyson. Its title poem is a 'monodrama' of a troubled young man's love and madness, and it also contains The Charge of the Light Brigade, written about a disastrous cavalry charge in the Crimean War.
Maud
In Maud, a young man embittered by his father's ruin and suicide falls in love with Maud, daughter of the man he blames. After he kills her brother in a duel, he flees abroad and descends into madness.
Tennyson called it a monodrama: each section expresses a new state of the speaker's mind, in changing metres.
The Charge of the Light Brigade
On 25 October 1854, at Balaclava, a misunderstood order sent the British light cavalry charging into a valley lined with Russian guns. Tennyson read the report in The Times and wrote the poem in a few minutes.
Published in December 1854 and included in the 1855 volume, it honours the riders' courage while noting that someone had blundered.
Reception
Maud puzzled and shocked many reviewers, but Tennyson loved it and often read it aloud to friends.
The Charge, by contrast, was immediately popular; copies were sent to soldiers in the Crimea.
Anecdotes
A recording
Tennyson recorded part of The Charge of the Light Brigade on an Edison phonograph in 1890; the faint, crackling recording still survives.
Copies for the troops
Tennyson had a thousand copies of the poem printed and sent to the soldiers in the Crimea, after hearing that they were singing it.
Frequently asked questions
What is Maud?
A monodrama: a long poem expressing the changing moods of a lover who falls into madness.
What event does The Charge of the Light Brigade describe?
The cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, on 25 October 1854.
Did Tennyson record his own voice?
Yes, reading The Charge of the Light Brigade, in 1890.