Norway, Norway
Norway, Norway,Rising in blue from the sea's gray and green,Islands around like fledglings tender,Fjord-tongues with slender,Tapering tips in the silence seen.Rivers, valleys,Mate among mountains, wood-ridge and slopeWandering follow. Where the wastes lighten,Lake and plain brightenHallow a temple of peace and hope.Norway, Norway,Houses and huts, not castles grand,Gentle or hard,Thee we guard, thee we guard,Thee, our future's fair land.
Norway, Norway,Glistening heights where skis swiftly go,Harbors with fishermen, salts, and craftsmen,Rivers and raftsmen,Herdsmen and horns and the glacier-glow.Moors and meadows,Runes in the woodlands, and wide-mown swaths,Cities like flowers, streams that run dashingOut to the flashingWhite of the sea, where the fish-school froths.Norway, Norway,Houses and huts, not castles grand,Gentle or hard,Thee we guard, thee we guard,Thee, our future's fair land.
Words in this poem
- brighten v. t.
- To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
- hallow v. t.
- To make holy; to set apart for holy or religious use; to consecrate; to treat or keep as sacred; to reverence. [OE. halowen, halwien, halgien, AS. halgian, fr. halig holy. See Holy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Norway, Norway 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, Norway, Norway, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/norway-norway.html, id L29351.
Form and metre
Norway, Norway is 30 lines in 2 stanzas of 15 lines each.
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 ABCCB-DEEDAFGGF norwayA · greenB · tenderC · slenderC · seenB · valleys · slopeD · lightenE · brightenE · hopeD · norwayA · grandF · hardG · guardG · landF
- 2 ABCCB--DD-AEFFE norwayA · goB · craftsmenC · raftsmenC · glowB · meadows · swaths · dashingD · flashingD · froths · norwayA · grandE · hardF · guardF · landE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Norway, Norway, | 4 | /·/· |
| Rising in blue from the sea's gray and green, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Islands around like fledglings tender, | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| Fjord-tongues with slender, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Tapering tips in the silence seen. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Rivers, valleys, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Mate among mountains, wood-ridge and slope | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Wandering follow. Where the wastes lighten, | 9 | /˘/˘···/˘ |
| Lake and plain brighten | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Hallow a temple of peace and hope. | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Norway, Norway, | 4 | /·/· |
| Houses and huts, not castles grand, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Gentle or hard, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Thee we guard, thee we guard, | 6 | ······ |
| Thee, our future's fair land. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Norway, Norway, | 4 | /·/· |
| Glistening heights where skis swiftly go, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Harbors with fishermen, salts, and craftsmen, | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Rivers and raftsmen, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Herdsmen and horns and the glacier-glow. | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Moors and meadows, | 4 | ··/· |
| Runes in the woodlands, and wide-mown swaths, | 9 | ···/····· |
| Cities like flowers, streams that run dashing | 9 | /˘·/···/˘ |
| Out to the flashing | 5 | ···/˘ |
| White of the sea, where the fish-school froths. | 9 | ········· |
| Norway, Norway, | 4 | /·/· |
| Houses and huts, not castles grand, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Gentle or hard, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Thee we guard, thee we guard, | 6 | ······ |
| Thee, our future's fair land. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
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.