Kaare's Song
KAAREWhat wakens the billows, while sleeps the wind?What looms in the west released?What kindles the stars, ere day's declined,Like fires for death's dark feast?
ALLGod aid thee here, our earl,God aid thee here, our earl,It is Helga, who comes unto Orkney.
KAAREWhat drives the fierce dragon to ride the foam,While billows with blood are red?The sea-fowl are shrieking, they seek their home,And hover around my head.
ALLGod aid thee here, our earl,God aid thee here, our earl,It is Helga, who comes unto Orkney.
KAAREWhat maiden so strange to the strand draws nigh,In light with soft music nears?What is it that makes all the flowers die,What fills all your eyes with tears?
ALLGod aid thee here, our earl,God aid thee here, our earl,It is Helga, who comes unto Orkney.
Words in this poem
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Kaare's Song 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, Kaare's Song, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/kaare-s-song.html, id L29266.
Form and metre
Kaare's Song is 27 lines in 6 stanzas.
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 -ABAB kaare · windA · releasedB · declinedA · feastB
- 2 -AA- all · earlA · earlA · orkney
- 3 -ABAB kaare · foamA · redB · homeA · headB
- 4 -AA- all · earlA · earlA · orkney
- 5 -ABAB kaare · nighA · nearsB · dieA · tearsB
- 6 -AA- all · earlA · earlA · orkney
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 |
|---|---|---|
| KAARE | 1 | · |
| What wakens the billows, while sleeps the wind? | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| What looms in the west released? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| What kindles the stars, ere day's declined, | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| Like fires for death's dark feast? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| ALL | 1 | · |
| God aid thee here, our earl, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| God aid thee here, our earl, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| It is Helga, who comes unto Orkney. | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| KAARE | 1 | · |
| What drives the fierce dragon to ride the foam, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| While billows with blood are red? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The sea-fowl are shrieking, they seek their home, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And hover around my head. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| ALL | 1 | · |
| God aid thee here, our earl, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| God aid thee here, our earl, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| It is Helga, who comes unto Orkney. | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| KAARE | 1 | · |
| What maiden so strange to the strand draws nigh, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| In light with soft music nears? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What is it that makes all the flowers die, | 9 | ·······/· |
| What fills all your eyes with tears? | 7 | ······· |
| ALL | 1 | · |
| God aid thee here, our earl, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| God aid thee here, our earl, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| It is Helga, who comes unto Orkney. | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
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.