Choice
April for me I choose!In it the old things tumble,In it things new refresh us;It makes a mighty rumble,--But peace is not so preciousAs that his will man shows.
April for me I choose,Because it storms and scourges,Because it smiles and blesses,Because its power purges,Because it strength possesses,--In it the summer grows.
About this text
Choice 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, Choice, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/choice.html, id L29298.
Form and metre
Choice is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 -ABAB- choose · tumbleA · usB · rumbleA · preciousB · shows
- 2 AABABA chooseA · scourgesA · blessesB · purgesA · possessesB · growsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| April for me I choose! | 6 | /˘···· |
| In it the old things tumble, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In it things new refresh us; | 7 | ····˘/· |
| It makes a mighty rumble,-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| But peace is not so precious | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| As that his will man shows. | 6 | ······ |
| April for me I choose, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Because it storms and scourges, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Because it smiles and blesses, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Because its power purges, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Because it strength possesses,-- | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| In it the summer grows. | 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.