Lector Thaasen
I read once of a flower that lonely grew,Apart, with trembling stem and pale of hue;The mountain-world of cold and strifeGave little lifeAnd less of color.
A botanist the flower chanced to seeAnd glad exclaimed: Oh, this must sheltered be,Must seed produce, renewing birth,In sun-warmed earthBecome a thousand.
But as he dug and drew it from the ground,Strange glitterings upon his hands he found;For to its roots clung dust of golden hue;The flower grewOn golden treasure!
And from the region wide came all the youthTo see the wonder; they divined the truth:Here lay their country's future might;A ray of lightFrom God that flower!--
This I recall now even while I mourn;The Lord of life has lifted him and borneFrom mountain-cold and wintry airTo fruitage fairIn warmth eternal.
For where the roots were of that life replete,What gleams and glitters! See, they ran to meetThe shafts of wisdom's goodly mines,The gold that shinesIn veins of God's thought.
Now he is lifted up, to light are broughtThe riches he to guard so faithful sought.The treasures of our past are there,And glintings rareOf future riches.
Come, Norway's youth! Unearth to use the hoardThat round this heaven-borne flower's roots was stored!To you his message! Hear and heed!Achieve in deedHis dream and longing!
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- fruitage n.
- Fruit, collectively; fruit, in general; fruitery. [F. fruitage.]
- replete a.
- Filled again; completely filled; full; charged; abounding. [L. repletus, p. p. of replere to fill again, fill up; pref. re- re- + plere to fill, akin to plenus full: cf. F. replet corpulent. See Plenty, Replenish.]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- unearth v. t.
- To drive or draw from the earth; hence, to uncover; to bring out from concealment; to bring to light; to disclose; as, to unearth a secret. [1st pref. un- + earth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lector Thaasen 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, Lector Thaasen, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/lector-thaasen.html, id L29284.
Form and metre
Lector Thaasen is 40 lines in 8 stanzas of 5 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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- grewA · hueA · strifeB · lifeB · color
- 2 AABB- seeA · beA · birthB · earthB · thousand
- 3 AABB- groundA · foundA · hueB · grewB · treasure
- 4 AABB- youthA · truthA · mightB · lightB · flower
- 5 AABB- mournA · borneA · airB · fairB · eternal
- 6 AABB- repleteA · meetA · minesB · shinesB · thought
- 7 AABB- broughtA · soughtA · thereB · rareB · riches
- 8 AABB- hoardA · storedA · heedB · deedB · longing
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I read once of a flower that lonely grew, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Apart, with trembling stem and pale of hue; | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| The mountain-world of cold and strife | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Gave little life | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And less of color. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A botanist the flower chanced to see | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| And glad exclaimed: Oh, this must sheltered be, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Must seed produce, renewing birth, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| In sun-warmed earth | 4 | ···· |
| Become a thousand. | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| But as he dug and drew it from the ground, | 10 | ·········· |
| Strange glitterings upon his hands he found; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| For to its roots clung dust of golden hue; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The flower grew | 4 | ·/˘· |
| On golden treasure! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| And from the region wide came all the youth | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To see the wonder; they divined the truth: | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Here lay their country's future might; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A ray of light | 4 | ···· |
| From God that flower!-- | 5 | ···/˘ |
| This I recall now even while I mourn; | 9 | ··˘/·/··· |
| The Lord of life has lifted him and borne | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| From mountain-cold and wintry air | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To fruitage fair | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In warmth eternal. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| For where the roots were of that life replete, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| What gleams and glitters! See, they ran to meet | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The shafts of wisdom's goodly mines, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The gold that shines | 4 | ···· |
| In veins of God's thought. | 5 | ····· |
| Now he is lifted up, to light are brought | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The riches he to guard so faithful sought. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The treasures of our past are there, | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| And glintings rare | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Of future riches. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Come, Norway's youth! Unearth to use the hoard | 10 | ·/··˘/···· |
| That round this heaven-borne flower's roots was stored! | 9 | ···/·/··· |
| To you his message! Hear and heed! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Achieve in deed | 4 | ˘/·· |
| His dream and longing! | 5 | ···/˘ |
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