For the Wounded
A still procession goesAmid the battle's booming,Its arm the red cross shows;It prays in many forms of speech,And, bending o'er the fallen,Brings peace and home to each.
Not only is it foundWhere bleed the wounds of battle,But all the world around.It is the love the whole world feelsIn noble hearts and tender,While gentle pity kneels;--
It is all labor's dreadOf war's mad waste and murder,Praying that peace may spread;It is all sufferers who heedThe sighing of a brother,And know his sorrow's need;--
It is each groan of painHeard from the sick and wounded,'T is Christian prayer humane;It is their cry who lonely grope,'T is the oppressed man's moaning,The dying breath of hope;--
This rainbow-bridge of prayersUp through the world's wild tempestIn light of Christ's faith bears:That love and loving deedsMay conquer strife and passion;For thus His promise reads.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- humane a.
- Pertaining to man; human. Jer. Taylor. [L. humanus: cf. F. humain. See Human.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For the Wounded 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, For the Wounded, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/for-the-wounded.html, id L29318.
Form and metre
For the Wounded is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 A-AB-B goesA · booming · showsA · speechB · fallen · eachB
- 2 A-AB-B foundA · battle · aroundA · feelsB · tender · kneelsB
- 3 A-AB-B dreadA · murder · spreadA · heedB · brother · needB
- 4 A-AB-B painA · wounded · humaneA · gropeB · moaning · hopeB
- 5 A-AB-B prayersA · tempest · bearsA · deedsB · passion · readsB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A still procession goes | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Amid the battle's booming, | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Its arm the red cross shows; | 6 | ······ |
| It prays in many forms of speech, | 7 | ···/··· |
| And, bending o'er the fallen, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Brings peace and home to each. | 6 | ······ |
| Not only is it found | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where bleed the wounds of battle, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But all the world around. | 6 | ······ |
| It is the love the whole world feels | 8 | ········ |
| In noble hearts and tender, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| While gentle pity kneels;-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| It is all labor's dread | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of war's mad waste and murder, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Praying that peace may spread; | 6 | /˘···· |
| It is all sufferers who heed | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The sighing of a brother, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And know his sorrow's need;-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It is each groan of pain | 6 | ······ |
| Heard from the sick and wounded, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| 'T is Christian prayer humane; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| It is their cry who lonely grope, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'T is the oppressed man's moaning, | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| The dying breath of hope;-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| This rainbow-bridge of prayers | 6 | ·/···· |
| Up through the world's wild tempest | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In light of Christ's faith bears: | 6 | ······ |
| That love and loving deeds | 6 | ···/˘· |
| May conquer strife and passion; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| For thus His promise reads. | 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.