Forward
"Forward! forward!"Rang our fathers' battle-cry."Forward! forward!"Norsemen, be our watchword high!All that fires the spirit and makes the heart's faith bright,For that we forward go with mightAnd faithful fight.
"Forward! forward!"Whoso loves a home that's free."Forward! forward!"Freedom's course must ever be.Though it shall be tested by doubt and by defeat,Who will the losses' count repeatWhen vict'ries greet?
"Forward! forward!"Whoso trusts in Norway's day."Forward! forward!"Whoso goes our fathers' way.Hid in Northern mountains are spirit-treasures trueThey shall, when dawns the morning's blue,Come forth anew.
Words in this poem
- whoso pron.
- Whosoever. Piers Plowman.
- 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,]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forward 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, Forward, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/forward.html, id L29303.
Form and metre
Forward is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCC.
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 ABABCCC forwardA · cryB · forwardA · highB · brightC · mightC · fightC
- 2 ABABCCC forwardA · freeB · forwardA · beB · defeatC · repeatC · greetC
- 3 ABABCCC forwardA · dayB · forwardA · wayB · trueC · blueC · anewC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Forward! forward!" | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Rang our fathers' battle-cry. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| "Forward! forward!" | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Norsemen, be our watchword high! | 8 | /˘·/˘/·· |
| All that fires the spirit and makes the heart's faith bright, | 11 | ··/·/······ |
| For that we forward go with might | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And faithful fight. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| "Forward! forward!" | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Whoso loves a home that's free. | 7 | /˘····· |
| "Forward! forward!" | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Freedom's course must ever be. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Though it shall be tested by doubt and by defeat, | 12 | ····/˘····˘/ |
| Who will the losses' count repeat | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| When vict'ries greet? | 3 | ··· |
| "Forward! forward!" | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Whoso trusts in Norway's day. | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| "Forward! forward!" | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Whoso goes our fathers' way. | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Hid in Northern mountains are spirit-treasures true | 11 | ··/˘/˘·//˘· |
| They shall, when dawns the morning's blue, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come forth anew. | 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.