A Sigh
Evening sunshine neverSolace to my window bears,Morning sunshine elsewhere fares;--Here are shadows ever.
Sunshine freely falling,Wilt thou not my chamber find?Here some rays would reach a mind,'Mid the dark appalling.
Morning sunshine's gladness,Oh, thou art my childhood bright;While thou playest pure and white,I would weep in sadness.
Evening sunshine's whiling,Oh, thou art the wise man's rest;--Farther on! Then from the westGreet my window smiling!
Morning sunshine's singing,Oh, thou art the fantasyThat the sun-glad world lifts free,Past my powers' winging.
Evening sunshine's quiet,Thou art more than wisdom's rest,Christian faith glows in thee blest:Calm my soul's wild riot!
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- appalling a.
- Such as to appall; as, an appalling accident.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- fantasy n.
- Fancy; imagination; especially, a whimsical or fanciful conception; a vagary of the imagination; whim; caprice; humor. [See Fancy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Sigh 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 Sigh, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/a-sigh.html, id L29261.
Form and metre
A Sigh is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABBA neverA · bearsB · faresB · everA
- 2 ABBA fallingA · findB · mindB · appallingA
- 3 ABBA gladnessA · brightB · whiteB · sadnessA
- 4 ABBA whilingA · restB · westB · smilingA
- 5 ABBA singingA · fantasyB · freeB · wingingA
- 6 ABBA quietA · restB · blestB · riotA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Evening sunshine never | 6 | /˘/·/˘ |
| Solace to my window bears, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Morning sunshine elsewhere fares;-- | 7 | /˘/·/·· |
| Here are shadows ever. | 6 | ··/·/˘ |
| Sunshine freely falling, | 6 | /·/˘/˘ |
| Wilt thou not my chamber find? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Here some rays would reach a mind, | 7 | ······· |
| 'Mid the dark appalling. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Morning sunshine's gladness, | 6 | /˘/·/˘ |
| Oh, thou art my childhood bright; | 7 | ····/·· |
| While thou playest pure and white, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I would weep in sadness. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Evening sunshine's whiling, | 6 | /˘/·/˘ |
| Oh, thou art the wise man's rest;-- | 7 | ······· |
| Farther on! Then from the west | 7 | /˘····· |
| Greet my window smiling! | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Morning sunshine's singing, | 6 | /˘/·/˘ |
| Oh, thou art the fantasy | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| That the sun-glad world lifts free, | 7 | ······· |
| Past my powers' winging. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Evening sunshine's quiet, | 6 | /˘/·/˘ |
| Thou art more than wisdom's rest, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Christian faith glows in thee blest: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Calm my soul's wild riot! | 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.