"Half a league, half a league,
..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
Half a league is about a mile and a half, the distance the British cavalry brigade had to ride through the valley to reach the enemy’s artillery battery. The repetition of “half a league” emphasizes the dactylic meter in the phrase—one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables; the rhythm suggests the rhythm of the horses’ galloping gait.
