Our Forefathers
High memories with powerShine through the wintry NorthOn every peak's white tower,On Kattegat so swarth.All is so still and spacious, `The Northern Lights flow free,Creating bright and graciousA day of memory.
Each deed the North defending,Each thought for greater might,A star-like word is sendingDown through the frosty night!To hope they call and boldness,And call with double cheerTo him, defying coldness,On guard the Eider near.
No anxious shadows clouding,No languid, lukewarm mistOur heaven of mem'ries shrouding,This eve of battle-tryst!May, as of yore, while ringingThe bells unseen loud swelled,Come leaders vict'ry bringing,Whom th' army ne'er beheld.
Words in this poem
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- swarth a.
- Swart; swarthy.
- clouding n.
- A mottled appearance given to ribbons and silks in the process of dyeing.
- lukewarm a.
- Moderately warm; neither cold nor hot; tepid; not ardent; not zealous; cool; indifferent. [See Luke.]
- shrouding n.
- The shrouds. See Shroud, n., 7.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Our Forefathers 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, Our Forefathers, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/our-forefathers.html, id L29275.
Form and metre
Our Forefathers is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCDCD powerA · northB · towerA · swarthB · — · freeD · graciousC · memoryD
- 2 ABABCDCD defendingA · mightB · sendingA · nightB · boldnessC · cheerD · coldnessC · nearD
- 3 ABABCDCD cloudingA · mistB · shroudingA · trystB · ringingC · swelledD · bringingC · beheldD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| High memories with power | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Shine through the wintry North | 6 | ···/˘· |
| On every peak's white tower, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| On Kattegat so swarth. | 6 | ······ |
| All is so still and spacious, ` | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The Northern Lights flow free, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Creating bright and gracious | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| A day of memory. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Each deed the North defending, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Each thought for greater might, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A star-like word is sending | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Down through the frosty night! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To hope they call and boldness, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And call with double cheer | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To him, defying coldness, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| On guard the Eider near. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No anxious shadows clouding, | 7 | ·/˘/·/˘ |
| No languid, lukewarm mist | 6 | ·/˘//· |
| Our heaven of mem'ries shrouding, | 7 | //˘··/˘ |
| This eve of battle-tryst! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| May, as of yore, while ringing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The bells unseen loud swelled, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Come leaders vict'ry bringing, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Whom th' army ne'er beheld. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
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.