Frida
Frida, I knew that thy life-years were counted.If but before thee a lifting thought mounted,Upward thy gaze turned all wistful to view it,As wouldst thou pursue it.
Eyes that so clear saw the wonderful visionLooked far away beyond earth's indecision.Snow-white unfolded the pinions that laterBore thee to the greater.
Speaking or asking thou broughtest me sorrow;Eyes thine and words thine seemed wanting to borrowClearness more pure and thoughts, victory gainingBeyond my attaining.
When thou wert dancing in all a child's lightness,Shaking thy locks like a fountain in brightness,Laughing till heaven was opened in gladnessOver thy gladness,--
Or when affliction in sternness had spoken,So that thy heart in that moment seemed broken,Far from thy thoughts in thy suffering rivenWere both earth and heaven,--
Then, oh, I saw then: thy joy and thy grievingEver the bounds of the mortal were cleaving.All seems so little where silent we ponder,--But room they have yonder.
Words in this poem
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- indecision n.
- Want of decision; want of settled purpose, or of firmness; indetermination; wavering of mind; irresolution; vacillation; hesitation. [Pref. in- not + decision: cf. F. indécision.]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- sternness n.
- The quality or state of being stern.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Frida 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, Frida, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/frida.html, id L29270.
Form and metre
Frida is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in dactylic 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 AABB countedA · mountedA · itB · itB
- 2 AABB visionA · indecisionA · laterB · greaterB
- 3 AABB sorrowA · borrowA · gainingB · attainingB
- 4 AABB lightnessA · brightnessA · gladnessB · gladnessB
- 5 AABB spokenA · brokenA · rivenB · heavenB
- 6 AABB grievingA · cleavingA · ponderB · yonderB
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Frida, I knew that thy life-years were counted. | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| If but before thee a lifting thought mounted, | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Upward thy gaze turned all wistful to view it, | 11 | /˘····/˘··· |
| As wouldst thou pursue it. | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Eyes that so clear saw the wonderful vision | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| Looked far away beyond earth's indecision. | 11 | ··˘/···˘˘/˘ |
| Snow-white unfolded the pinions that later | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Bore thee to the greater. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Speaking or asking thou broughtest me sorrow; | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Eyes thine and words thine seemed wanting to borrow | 11 | ······/˘·/· |
| Clearness more pure and thoughts, victory gaining | 11 | /˘····/˘˘/˘ |
| Beyond my attaining. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| When thou wert dancing in all a child's lightness, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Shaking thy locks like a fountain in brightness, | 11 | /˘····/˘·/˘ |
| Laughing till heaven was opened in gladness | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Over thy gladness,-- | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Or when affliction in sternness had spoken, | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| So that thy heart in that moment seemed broken, | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Far from thy thoughts in thy suffering riven | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| Were both earth and heaven,-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Then, oh, I saw then: thy joy and thy grieving | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Ever the bounds of the mortal were cleaving. | 11 | /˘····/˘·/˘ |
| All seems so little where silent we ponder,-- | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| But room they have yonder. | 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.