Context: This brief poem exemplifies military heroism and the zeal with which Napoleon's soldiers served him. Supposedly based upon a historical incident at the battle of Ratisbon, Bavaria, in 1809, the poem shows a boy riding up to the hill where Napoleon stands wondering whether his attack will be successful. The boy tells his general that victory is his, and Napoleon exults, then notices that the young soldier is wounded. The boy, proud that he has been able to offer his life for his leader, corrects him, saying that he has been more than wounded; he has been given his death-stroke.