A Meeting
... O'er uplands fresh swift sped my sleigh ...A light snow fell; along the wayStood firs and birches slender.The former pondered deep, alone,The latter laughed, their white boughs shone;--All brings a picture tender.
So light and free is now the air;Of all its burdens stripped it bareThe snow with playful sally.I glimpse behind its veil so thinA landscape gay, and high withinA snow-peak o'er the valley.
But from the border white and brown,Where'er I look, there's peeping downA face ... but whose, whose is it?I bore my gaze 'neath cap and brimAnd see the snowflakes swarm and swim;--Will some one here me visit?
A star fell on my glove ... right here ...And here again ... its unlike peer; ...They will with riddles pose me.And smiles that in the air aboundFrom eyes so good ... I look around ...'T is memory besnows me.
The stars spin fine their filigree,Can hidden spirits in it be?There haunts me something awing ...You finer birch, you snow unstained,You purer air,--a soul you've gained?Who is it here now drawing
His features dear in nature's face,In all this fascinating grace,In falling stars that cheat me,--In these white gleams that finely glance,In all this silent rhythmic dance? ...Hans Brecke!--comes to meet me.
Words in this poem
- awing adv.
- On the wing; flying; fluttering. Wallace. [Pref. a- + wing.]
- rhythmic a.
- Pertaining to, or of the nature of, rhythm DAy and night I worked my rhythmic thought. Mrs. Browning. [Gr. rhythmicus, F. rhythmique.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Meeting is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, the Arthur Hubbell Palmer translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, A Meeting, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/a-meeting.html, id L29343.
Form and metre
A Meeting is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABCCB sleighA · wayA · slenderB · aloneC · shoneC · tenderB
- 2 AABCCB airA · bareA · sallyB · thinC · withinC · valleyB
- 3 AABCCB brownA · downA · itB · brimC · swimC · visitB
- 4 AABCCB hereA · peerA · meB · aboundC · aroundC · meB
- 5 AABCCB filigreeA · beA · awingB · unstainedC · gainedC · drawingB
- 6 AABCCB faceA · graceA · meB · glanceC · danceC · meB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ... O'er uplands fresh swift sped my sleigh ... | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A light snow fell; along the way | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Stood firs and birches slender. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The former pondered deep, alone, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The latter laughed, their white boughs shone;-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All brings a picture tender. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| So light and free is now the air; | 8 | ········ |
| Of all its burdens stripped it bare | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The snow with playful sally. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I glimpse behind its veil so thin | 8 | ········ |
| A landscape gay, and high within | 8 | ·/······ |
| A snow-peak o'er the valley. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But from the border white and brown, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where'er I look, there's peeping down | 9 | ˘˘/···/˘· |
| A face ... but whose, whose is it? | 7 | ······· |
| I bore my gaze 'neath cap and brim | 8 | ········ |
| And see the snowflakes swarm and swim;-- | 8 | ···/···· |
| Will some one here me visit? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A star fell on my glove ... right here ... | 8 | ········ |
| And here again ... its unlike peer; ... | 8 | ··˘/·˘/· |
| They will with riddles pose me. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And smiles that in the air abound | 8 | ······˘/ |
| From eyes so good ... I look around ... | 8 | ········ |
| 'T is memory besnows me. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| The stars spin fine their filigree, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Can hidden spirits in it be? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| There haunts me something awing ... | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| You finer birch, you snow unstained, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| You purer air,--a soul you've gained? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Who is it here now drawing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| His features dear in nature's face, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In all this fascinating grace, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| In falling stars that cheat me,-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| In these white gleams that finely glance, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In all this silent rhythmic dance? ... | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Hans Brecke!--comes to meet me. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.