Anton Martin Schweigaard
Give us, God, to Thee now turning,Fullness of joy, tears full and burning,Of will the full refining fire!Hear our prayer o'er his inurning:His will was one, the whole discerning,His whole soul would to it aspire.Yes; give us yet again,With power to lead, great men,--Power in counsel our folk to lead,Our folk in deed,Our folk in gladness and in need!
Thou, O God, our want preventest;To raise the temple him Thou lentest,A spirit bright and pure and great.When Thou from time to call him meantest,Her tender soul to him Thou sentestWho went before to heaven's gate.When Thou didst set him free,An epoch ceased to be.Men then marveled, the while they said:"Living and dead,O'er all our land he beauty spread."
Help us, God, to wiser waring,When to our land Thou light art bearing,That we Thy dayspring then may know.God, our future Thou'rt preparing,Oh, give us longing, honor's daring,That we the great may not forego!Thou sentest many out,--Cease not, our God, nor doubt!Let us follow Thy way, Thy call,Men, words, and all!Thy mercies shall our North enwall!
Words in this poem
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
- forego v. t.
- To quit; to relinquish; to leave. [See Forgo.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Anton Martin Schweigaard 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, Anton Martin Schweigaard, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/anton-martin-schweigaard.html, id L29314.
Form and metre
Anton Martin Schweigaard is 33 lines in 3 stanzas of 11 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABAABCCDDD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 AABAABCCDDD turningA · burningA · fireB · inurningA · discerningA · aspireB · againC · menC · leadD · deedD · needD
- 2 AABAABCCDDD preventestA · lentestA · greatB · meantestA · sentestA · gateB · freeC · beC · saidD · deadD · spreadD
- 3 AABAABCCDDD waringA · bearingA · knowB · preparingA · daringA · foregoB · outC · doubtC · callD · allD · enwallD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Give us, God, to Thee now turning, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Fullness of joy, tears full and burning, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Of will the full refining fire! | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Hear our prayer o'er his inurning: | 8 | ·/······ |
| His will was one, the whole discerning, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| His whole soul would to it aspire. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Yes; give us yet again, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| With power to lead, great men,-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Power in counsel our folk to lead, | 8 | /·/˘/··· |
| Our folk in deed, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Our folk in gladness and in need! | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| Thou, O God, our want preventest; | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| To raise the temple him Thou lentest, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| A spirit bright and pure and great. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When Thou from time to call him meantest, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Her tender soul to him Thou sentest | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Who went before to heaven's gate. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Thou didst set him free, | 6 | ······ |
| An epoch ceased to be. | 7 | ·/˘·˘·· |
| Men then marveled, the while they said: | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| "Living and dead, | 4 | /˘·· |
| O'er all our land he beauty spread." | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| Help us, God, to wiser waring, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| When to our land Thou light art bearing, | 9 | ··/····/˘ |
| That we Thy dayspring then may know. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| God, our future Thou'rt preparing, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Oh, give us longing, honor's daring, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| That we the great may not forego! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Thou sentest many out,-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Cease not, our God, nor doubt! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Let us follow Thy way, Thy call, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Men, words, and all! | 4 | ···· |
| Thy mercies shall our North enwall! | 8 | ·/˘·/·˘/ |
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.