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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  The Germans on the Heights of Hochheim

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Hochheim

The Germans on the Heights of Hochheim

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

ABRUPTLY paused the strife; the field throughout,

Resting upon his arms, each warrior stood,

Checked in the very act and deed of blood,

With breath suspended, like a listening scout.

O Silence! thou wert mother of a shout

That through the texture of yon azure dome

Cleaves its glad way, a cry of harvest-home

Uttered to Heaven in ecstasy devout!

The barrier Rhine hath flashed, through battle-smoke,

On men who gaze heart-smitten by the view,

As if all Germany had felt the shock!

—Fly, wretched Gauls! ere they the charge renew

Who have seen—themselves now casting off the yoke—

The unconquerable stream his course pursue.