On a Wife's Death
With death's dark eye acquainted she had been made ere this,When to her son, her first-born, she gave the farewell kiss,And when afar she hastened beside her mother's bed,It followed all her faring with warning fraught and dread;It filled her with foreboding when standing by the bier:More sheaves to gather hopeth the harvester austere.So soon she saw her husband, that man of strength, succumb,She said with sorrow stricken: « I knew that it would come!"She thought that he was chosen by God from earth to go,Would check, her hands upthrusting, the harsh behest of woe;And with her slender body, too weak for such a strife,Would ward her gallant consort,--and gave for him her life.
She smiled, serene and blissful, as death's dark eye she braved;Her sacrifice was given, her heart's proud hero saved.Our love and admiration lifted a starry domeOf happiness above her in life's last hour of gloam,And snow-white pure she passed then to her eternal home.Such tender love and holy to heaven's bounds can bearThe souls that it embraces in sacrifice and prayer.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- harvester n.
- One who harvests; a machine for cutting and gathering grain; a reaper.
- succumb v. t.
- To yield; to submit; to give up unresistingly; as, to succumb under calamities; to succumb to disease. [L. succumbere; sub under + cumbere (in comp.), akin to cubare to lie down. See Incumbent, Cubit.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- admiration n.
- Wonder; astonishment. [F., fr. L. admiratio. See Admire.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- gloam v. i.
- To begin to grow dark; to grow dusky. [See Gloom, Glum.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Wife's Death 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, On a Wife's Death, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/on-a-wife-s-death.html, id L29322.
Form and metre
On a Wife's Death is 19 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFF thisA · kissA · bedB · dreadB · bierC · austereC · succumbD · comeD · goE · woeE · strifeF · lifeF
- 2 AABBBCC bravedA · savedA · domeB · gloamB · homeB · bearC · prayerC
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| With death's dark eye acquainted she had been made ere this, | 13 | ····˘/˘······ |
| When to her son, her first-born, she gave the farewell kiss, | 13 | ···········/· |
| And when afar she hastened beside her mother's bed, | 13 | ··˘/·/˘·/·/˘· |
| It followed all her faring with warning fraught and dread; | 13 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··· |
| It filled her with foreboding when standing by the bier: | 13 | ····˘/˘·/˘··· |
| More sheaves to gather hopeth the harvester austere. | 13 | ···/˘···/˘˘˘/ |
| So soon she saw her husband, that man of strength, succumb, | 13 | ·····/˘····˘/ |
| She said with sorrow stricken: « I knew that it would come!" | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| She thought that he was chosen by God from earth to go, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| Would check, her hands upthrusting, the harsh behest of woe; | 13 | ·········˘/·· |
| And with her slender body, too weak for such a strife, | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| Would ward her gallant consort,--and gave for him her life. | 13 | ···/˘˘/······ |
| She smiled, serene and blissful, as death's dark eye she braved; | 13 | ··˘/·/˘······ |
| Her sacrifice was given, her heart's proud hero saved. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘···/˘· |
| Our love and admiration lifted a starry dome | 13 | /···˘/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Of happiness above her in life's last hour of gloam, | 13 | ·/˘˘······/·· |
| And snow-white pure she passed then to her eternal home. | 13 | ·········˘/˘· |
| Such tender love and holy to heaven's bounds can bear | 13 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··· |
| The souls that it embraces in sacrifice and prayer. | 13 | ····˘/˘·/˘··· |
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.