Louis Napoleon
Louis Napoleon - context Summary
Battle of Austerlitz Invoked
Wilde addresses the fallen scion of Napoleon’s line, invoking the Battle of Austerlitz to contrast imperial glory with a more recent, obscure defeat. The poem mourns a young, dethroned prince yet casts his death as a moment when France chooses republican liberty over dynastic rule. It frames the shift as honorable: the nation crowns him with soldierly laurels while celebrating democracy’s ascendancy where kings once rested secure.
Read Complete AnalysesEagle of Austerlitz! where were thy wings When far away upon a barbarous strand, In fight unequal, by an obscure hand, Fell the last scion of thy brood of Kings! Poor boy! thou wilt not flaunt thy cloak of red, Nor ride in state through Paris in the van Of thy returning legions, but instead Thy mother France, free and republican, Shall on thy dead and crownless forehead place The better laurels of a soldier's crown, That not dishonoured should thy soul go down To tell the mighty Sire of thy race That France hath kissed the mouth of Liberty, And found it sweeter than his honied bees, And that the giant wave Democracy Breaks on the shores where Kings lay crouched at ease.
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