Ingerid Sletten
Ingerid Sletten of SillejordNeither gold nor silver did own,But a little hood of gay wool alone,Her mother had given of yore.
A little hood of gay wool alone,With no braid nor lining, was here;But parent love made it ever dear,And brighter than gold it shone.
She kept the hood twenty years just so:"Be it spotless," softly she cried,"Until I shall wear it once as bride,When I to the altar go."
She kept the hood thirty years just so:"Be it spotless," softly she cried,"Then wear it I will, a gladsome bride,When it to our Lord I show."
She kept the hood forty years just so,With her mother ever in mind."Little hood, be with me to this resigned,That ne'er to the altar we'll go."
She steps to the chest where the hood has lain,And seeks it with swelling heart;She guides her hand to its place apart,--But never a thread did remain.
Words in this poem
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- 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,]
- gladsome a.
- Pleased; joyful; cheerful.
- resigned a.
- Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ingerid Sletten 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, Ingerid Sletten, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/ingerid-sletten.html, id L29238.
Form and metre
Ingerid Sletten is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
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 ABBA sillejordA · ownB · aloneB · yoreA
- 2 ABBA aloneA · hereB · dearB · shoneA
- 3 ABBA soA · criedB · brideB · goA
- 4 ABBA soA · criedB · brideB · showA
- 5 ABBA soA · mindB · resignedB · goA
- 6 ABBA lainA · heartB · apartB · remainA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ingerid Sletten of Sillejord | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Neither gold nor silver did own, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| But a little hood of gay wool alone, | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| Her mother had given of yore. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| A little hood of gay wool alone, | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| With no braid nor lining, was here; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| But parent love made it ever dear, | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| And brighter than gold it shone. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| She kept the hood twenty years just so: | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| "Be it spotless," softly she cried, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| "Until I shall wear it once as bride, | 9 | ········· |
| When I to the altar go." | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She kept the hood thirty years just so: | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| "Be it spotless," softly she cried, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| "Then wear it I will, a gladsome bride, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| When it to our Lord I show." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She kept the hood forty years just so, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| With her mother ever in mind. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| "Little hood, be with me to this resigned, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| That ne'er to the altar we'll go." | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| She steps to the chest where the hood has lain, | 10 | ·········· |
| And seeks it with swelling heart; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She guides her hand to its place apart,-- | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| But never a thread did remain. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
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.