Evening
Evening sun in beauty is shining,Lazy puss on the step's reclining."Two small mice,Cream that was so nice,Four fine bits of fish,Stolen from a dish,And I'm so good and full,And I'm so lazy and dull!"Says the pussy.
Mother-hen her wings now is sinking,Rooster stands on one leg a-thinking:"That gray goose,High he flies and loose;But just watch, you must admit,Naught he has of rooster-wit.Chickens in! To the coop away!Gladly dismiss we the sun for today!"Says the rooster.
"Dear me, it is good to be living,When life no labor is giving!"Says the song-bird.
Words in this poem
- puss n.
- A cat; -- a fondling appellation. [Cf. D. poes, Ir. & Gael. pus.]
- pussy n.
- A pet name for a cat; also, an endearing name for a girl. [Dim. of puss.]
- rooster n.
- The male of the domestic fowl; a cock. [U.S.]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Evening 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, Evening, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/evening.html, id L29244.
Form and metre
Evening is 21 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 76% of the lines.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABBCC--- shiningA · recliningA · miceB · niceB · fishC · dishC · full · dull · pussy
- 2 AABBCCDD- sinkingA · thinkingA · gooseB · looseB · admitC · witC · awayD · todayD · rooster
- 3 AA- livingA · givingA · bird
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Evening sun in beauty is shining, | 9 | /˘··/˘·/˘ |
| Lazy puss on the step's reclining. | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| "Two small mice, | 3 | ··· |
| Cream that was so nice, | 5 | ····· |
| Four fine bits of fish, | 5 | ····· |
| Stolen from a dish, | 5 | /˘··· |
| And I'm so good and full, | 6 | ······ |
| And I'm so lazy and dull!" | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Says the pussy. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mother-hen her wings now is sinking, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Rooster stands on one leg a-thinking: | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| "That gray goose, | 3 | ··· |
| High he flies and loose; | 5 | ····· |
| But just watch, you must admit, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Naught he has of rooster-wit. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Chickens in! To the coop away! | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Gladly dismiss we the sun for today!" | 10 | /˘˘/····˘/ |
| Says the rooster. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| "Dear me, it is good to be living, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| When life no labor is giving!" | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Says the song-bird. | 4 | ···· |
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.