Chapter I: Hoffer

Composed 1809.--Published 1809[A]

The six sonnets of this Tyrolean group were placed among the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty."--ED.

Of mortal parents is the Hero born
By whom the undaunted Tyrolese are led?
Or is it Tell's great Spirit, from the dead
Returned to animate an age forlorn?
He comes like Phoebus through the gates of morn 5
When dreary darkness is discomfited,
Yet mark his modest[1] state! upon his head,
That simple crest, a heron's plume, is worn.[2]
O Liberty! they stagger at the shock
From van to rear--and with one mind would flee, 10
But half their host is buried:[3]--rock on rock
Descends:--beneath this godlike Warrior, see!
Hills, torrents, woods, embodied to bemock
The Tyrant, and confound his cruelty.

The expectation that the Germans would rise against the French in 1807 was realised only in the Tyrol. Andreas Hofer, an innkeeper in the Passeierthal, was the chief of the Tyrolese leaders. More than once he called his countrymen to arms, and was successful for a time. The Bavarians, however, defeated him, in October 1809. He was tried by court-martial, and shot in 1810.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1815.

... simple ... 1809.

[2] 1815.

A Heron's feather for a crest is worn. 1809.

[3] 1837.

... at the shock;
The Murderers are aghast; they strive to flee
And half their Host is buried:-- ... 1809.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, October 26.--ED.

II

"ADVANCE--COME FORTH FROM THY TYROLEAN GROUND"

Composed 1809.--Published 1809[A]

Advance--come forth from thy Tyrolean ground,
Dear Liberty! stern Nymph of soul untamed;
Sweet Nymph, O rightly of the mountains named!
Through the long chain of Alps from mound to mound
And o'er the eternal snows, like Echo, bound; 5
Like Echo, when the hunter train at dawn
Have roused her from her sleep: and forest-lawn,
Cliffs, woods and caves, her viewless steps resound
And babble of her pastime!--On, dread Power!
With such invisible motion speed thy flight, 10
Through hanging clouds, from craggy height to height,
Through the green vales and through the herdsman's bower--
That all the Alps may gladden in thy might,
Here, there, and in all places at one hour.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, October 26.--ED.

III

FEELINGS OF THE TYROLESE

Composed 1809.--Published 1809[A]

The Land we from our fathers had in trust,
And to our children will transmit, or die:
This is our maxim, this our piety;
And God and Nature say that it is just.
That which we _would_ perform in arms--we must! 5
We read the dictate in the infant's eye;
In the wife's smile; and in the placid sky;
And, at our feet, amid the silent dust
Of them that were before us.--Sing aloud
Old songs, the precious music of the heart! 10
Give, herds and flocks, your voices to the wind!
While we go forth, a self-devoted crowd,
With weapons grasped in fearless hands,[1] to assert
Our virtue, and to vindicate mankind.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

With weapons in the fearless hand, 1809.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 21.--ED.