Were it not for a small group of patriotic poems immortalized by his reputed Heldentod (hero's death) in battle against the forces of Napoleon, Theodor Körner would probably deserve mention as nothing more than a minor poet and dramatist whose influential father, Dr. Christian Gottfried Körner cultivated the acquaintance of many central literary figures of Goethe's day. In fact, Goethe counted the elder Körner among his friends and consequently promoted the brief career of Körner's only son, Theodor, with several acts of patronage. Yet it was not Goethe's patronage, nor any critical consensus on the quality of the younger Körner's works, that established him as a figure of literary and cultural importance in the German-speaking world, but the patriotic expression of his characteristic impulsiveness and single-mindedness at a time of great tumult in Europe. On 15 March 1813 in a...