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,