Theodor Körner ( author ) Carl Theodor Körner ( * September 23 , 1791 – August 26 , 1813 ) was a German poet and soldier . After some time in Vienna , where he wrote some light comedies and other works for the Burgtheater , he became a soldier and joined the Lützow Free Corps in the German uprising against Napoleon . During these times , he displayed personal courage in many fights , and encouraged his comrades by fiery patriotic lyrics he composed , among these being the “ " Schwertlied " " ( “ Sword Song " ) , composed during a lull in fighting only a few hours before his death , and “ " Lützows wilde Jagd " " ( " Lützow ' s Wild Chase " ) , each set to music by both Carl Maria von Weber and Franz Schubert . He was often called the “ German Tyrtaeus . ” Early life . He was born at Dresden , capital of the Saxon electorate , the son of the consistorial councillor Christian Gottfried Körner and his wife Minna Stock Körner . He was raised by his parents and by his aunt , the artist Dora Stock , who lived in the home . He attended the Kreuzschule . After his education , he chose mining as an occupation . He moved to Vienna , where he befriended Wilhelm von Humboldt , the Prussian ambassador , Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel , and other eminent literary and scientific men . Here , within the short space of fifteen months , he produced a succession of dramas , operas , and farces , as well as several small poems . The success of his works obtained him the appointment of poet to the court at the Vienna " Burgtheater " . It was in this period of his life that he became betrothed to the popular actress Antonie Adamberger . During the War of the Sixth Coalition , he left Vienna in March 1813 , and together with Friedrich Friesen and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn joined the Lützow Free Corps , a voluntary paramilitary association which Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow was then forming in Breslau , Silesia . In the midst of the most active campaigns , Körner continued to write poetry and other works . He wrote a singspiel , " Der vierjährige Posten " , which was set to music by Franz Schubert in 1815 , but the piece was not performed until 1869 , when it was staged at the Hofoper , Dresden . It was later adapted in English as " The Outpost " . Napoleonic Wars . Having taken up quarters at Zobten , on 28 March Major von Lützow had determined on setting out on an expedition to Saxony and Thuringia , with four squadrons of his cavalry , and fifty cossacks . Körner arrived at Dresden on 6 April , taking the occasion to visit his family . In Leipzig , the Free Corps missed the opportunity to participate in the battles of Möckern and Lützen . Major von Lützow marched northwards , then , hearing of the French retreat from Hamburg , again turned to the south . Körner was frustrated , but earnestly entreated permission to accompany him , and his desire was fulfilled when he was appointed adjutant by Lützow , who highly esteemed him , and wished to have him near his person . They marched from Halberstadt via Eisleben , Buttstädt to Schleiz , and finally reached Eichigt near Plauen in Vogtland within a few days — not without encountering the enemy , who were dispersed throughout these districts , but , also , not without effecting some important results . Intelligence and information were procured , ammunition was captured , and prisoners were taken . As a result , Napoleon was determined to destroy the corps , and the 1813 armistice provided an opportunity for putting it in practice . Major von Lützow had received official information of the armistice concluded at Plauen on June 4 . Without expecting to meet with any opposition , he chose the shortest route to rejoin the infantry of his corps , having received assurance of safety from the enemy ' s commanding officers , and proceeded , without interruption , back to Kitzen near Leipzig ; but here he found himself surrounded and menaced by a very superior force . Körner was despatched to demand an explanation ; but , instead of replying , the French General François Fournier - Sarlovèze struck at him with his sword , and ordered a general attack be made on the three squadrons of the Lützow cavalry . Several were wounded and taken , and others dispersed in the surrounding country ; but Major von Lützow himself was saved by the assistance of a squadron of Uhlans , who had been in advance with the Cossacks . He reached , with a considerable number of his troops , the right bank of the Elbe , where the infantry of his corps , and a squadron of its cavalry , were already collected . Körner had received the first blow , which he was not prepared to parry , as he approached the enemy ' s commanding officer to deliver his message , and was severely wounded in the head . He managed to escape on his horse to a nearby forest . After he had assisted a wounded comrade , he noticed an enemy troop that was in pursuit of him , and called with a loud voice , " Fourth squadron , — Advance ! " His ruse succeeded — the enemy drew back , and he was able to retreat farther into the forest . The pain of his head wound had become very severe . It was in this position that he composed the sonnet " Abschied vom Leben " ( " Farewell to Life " ) , of which the following is a translation : " ( Written in the night of the 17th and 18 June , as I lay , severely wounded and helpless in a wood , expecting to die . ) " During the night he heard the enemy searching the forest near him , but afterwards fell asleep , and was saved in the morning by two peasants . He was conveyed secretly into Leipzig , which was then under French control , and where the concealment of any of the Lützow Free Corps was prohibited , under severe punishment . Guided to Gnandstein Castle and later to Carlsbad in Bohemia , he subsequently travelled to Berlin , and having recovered from his wound , rejoined the Lützow corps in Mecklenburg . Death . Hostilities recommenced on 17 August 1813 ; Körner spent the night of 25 August at Gottesgabe manor , where he played the piano and sang . In the early morning of the next day , an engagement took place at the nearby forest of Rosenow near Gadebusch , in which Körner fell . He had been in pursuit of a group of the enemy , when the riflemen , who had found a rallying - place in some under - wood , sent forth a shower of balls upon their pursuers . By one of these Körner was wounded in the abdomen , the liver and spine were injured , and he was immediately deprived of speech and consciousness . He was carried to a neighbouring wood , but could not be revived . He was buried under an oak in the village of Wöbbelin , about a mile from Ludwigslust . A tomb has since been placed over his remains , and enclosed by a wall . Körner died at the age of twenty - one . His " Poetischer Nachlass " were edited by his father and published at Leipzig in 1815 . According to J . R . Miller in " Homemaking " ( now published as " The Family " ) , Körner had a very close friendship with his sister Emma , and when he died , " she survived him only long enough to complete his portrait and to draw with the pencil of love a sketch of his last resting - place . " ( In fact , Emma Körner survived her brother by two years , dying of a fever in Dresden four weeks after a visit to her brother ' s grave . She was buried next to him in Wöbbelin . ) Miller quotes a poem by " Mrs . Hemans " about their mutual devotion . Works . His first volume of poems was published under the title of " Knospen " ( Buds , 1810 ) . Of his light comedies , " Die Braut " ( The Bride , 1812 ) and " Der grüne Domino " ( The Green Domino , 1812 ) were very successful , and " Der Nachtwächter " ( The Night Watchman , 1812 ) was notable as was " Sword Song " . The drama " Zriny " , an historical tragedy , is the most ambitious of his works . Many of the poems from his years in the Lützow Free Corps were set to music by Carl Maria von Weber . A selection of his battle songs was prepared by his father and published under the title of " Leyer und Schwerdt " ( modern " Leier und Schwert , " “ Lyre and Sword ” ) ( Berlin , 1814 ) . His complete works were published by the direction of his mother , and edited by Streckfuss ( 1 vol . , Berlin , 1834 ; 4 vols . , 1838 ) . Bibliography . His " Life , written by his Father , with his Selections from his Poems , Tales , and Dramas " , translated from the German by G . F . Richardson , appeared in London in 1845 . Biographical and critical studies are by Bauer ( Stuttgart , 1883 ) , Rogge ( Wittenberg , 1891 ) , Kregenberg ( Dresden , 1892 ) , Jaden , ( Dresden , 1896 ) , Peschel and Wildenow ( Leipzig , 1898 ) and Peschel ( Dresden , 1901 ) .