On the Final Submission of the Tyrolese
On the Final Submission of the Tyrolese - context Summary
Tyrolean Rebellion, 1805
Wordsworth composed this short ode in 1805, published in 1807 in Poems, in Two Volumes, as a vocal support for the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleonic forces. He frames the Tyrolean peasants as morally justified fighters whose magnanimity and steadfastness leave an enduring political and moral impulse. The poem consoles the fallen and anticipates a future, broader European awakening that will vindicate their struggle and secure ultimate triumph.
Read Complete AnalysesIT was a 'moral' end for which they fought; Else how, when mighty Thrones were put to shame, Could they, poor Shepherds, have preserved an aim, A resolution, or enlivening thought? Nor hath that moral good been 'vainly' sought; For in their magnanimity and fame Powers have they left, an impulse, and a claim Which neither can be overturned nor bought. Sleep, Warriors, sleep! among your hills repose! We know that ye, beneath the stern control Of awful prudence, keep the unvanquished soul: And when, impatient of her guilt and woes, Europe breaks forth; then, Shepherds! shall ye rise For perfect triumph o'er your Enemies.
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