Magnus the Blind
"Oh, let me look once again and seeStarlight the heavens o'ersweeping!"Begged young Magnus on bended knee,It was sore to see.All the women afar were weeping.
"Oh, till to-morrow! The mountains to seeAnd ocean its blue displaying,Only once, and then let it be!"Thus he bent the knee,While his friends for mercy were praying.
"Oh, in the church let God's blood so brightBe the last blessing that greets me!It shall bathe with a flood of lightThrough eternal nightMy eyes, when the darkness meets me!"
Deep sank the steel, and each seeing eyeLightning-like night had swallowed."Magnus, King Magnus, good-by, good-by!"--"Oh, good-by, good-by,--You who eighteen summers me followed!"
Words in this poem
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Magnus the Blind 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, Magnus the Blind, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/magnus-the-blind.html, id L29268.
Form and metre
Magnus the Blind is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAAB seeA · o'ersweepingB · kneeA · seeA · weepingB
- 2 ABAAB seeA · displayingB · beA · kneeA · prayingB
- 3 ABAAB brightA · meB · lightA · nightA · meB
- 4 ABAAB eyeA · swallowedB · byA · byA · followedB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Oh, let me look once again and see | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Starlight the heavens o'ersweeping!" | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| Begged young Magnus on bended knee, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| It was sore to see. | 5 | ····· |
| All the women afar were weeping. | 9 | ··/˘˘/·/˘ |
| "Oh, till to-morrow! The mountains to see | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| And ocean its blue displaying, | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| Only once, and then let it be!" | 8 | /˘······ |
| Thus he bent the knee, | 5 | ····· |
| While his friends for mercy were praying. | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| "Oh, in the church let God's blood so bright | 9 | ········· |
| Be the last blessing that greets me! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It shall bathe with a flood of light | 8 | ········ |
| Through eternal night | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| My eyes, when the darkness meets me!" | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Deep sank the steel, and each seeing eye | 8 | ······/· |
| Lightning-like night had swallowed. | 8 | /˘···/˘˘ |
| "Magnus, King Magnus, good-by, good-by!" | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| --"Oh, good-by, good-by,-- | 5 | ····· |
| You who eighteen summers me followed!" | 9 | ··˘//˘·/˘ |
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.