HOHENLINDEN.
AN IMPRESSIVE POEM INSPIRED BY THE DEFEAT OF THE AUSTRIANS BY THE FRENCH IN DECEMBER, 1800.
Thomas Campbell (1777–1844) is one of those writers who composed many elaborate works, yet whose fame rests wholly upon three or four short poems which have become classic. Among these is “Hohenlinden,” written immediately after the battle of that name, fought on December 3, 1800, between the French, under Moreau, and the Archduke John, in command of the Austrian army.
It was one of the most hotly contested battles of the Napoleonic wars, and was decided by the valor of Marshal Ney, the Austrians being routed with a loss of twenty thousand men. The battle made a profound impression in England, and inspired Campbell to dash off these stirring lines, which in the speed of their composition and their martial spirit remind one of Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade.”
By THOMAS CAMPBELL.
On Linden, when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay th’ untrodden snow;
And dark as winter was the flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.
But Linden saw another sight,
When the drum beat, at dead of night,
Commanding fires of death to light
The darkness of her scenery.
By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each horseman drew his battle-blade,
And furious every charger neighed,
To join the dreadful revelry.
Then shook the hills with thunder riven,
Then rushed the steed to battle driven,
And louder than the bolts of heaven
Far flashed the red artillery.
But redder yet that light shall glow
On Linden’s hills of stainèd snow,
And bloodier yet the torrent flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.
’Tis morn, but scarce yon level sun
Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun,
Where furious Frank and fiery Hun
Shout in their sulph’rous canopy.
The combat deepens. On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory or the grave!
Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave,
And charge with all thy chivalry!
Few, few shall part where many meet!
The snow shall be their winding-sheet,
And every turf beneath their feet
Shall be a soldier’s sepulcher.