Song of Freedom
Freedom's father--power strong,Freedom's mother--wrath and song.Giant-stout, a youth self-taught,Soon a giant's work he wrought.Ever he, full of glee,Thought and wit and melody,Mighty, merry, made his way,--Labor's toil or battle-fray.
Enemies whom none could tellLay in wait this foe to fell,Found him waking all too stark,Sought his sleeping hours to mark,Tried their skill, bound him still;When he wakened, they fared ill.Glad he forward strode firm-paced,Full of power, full of haste.
Bare fields blossom 'neath his feet,Commerce swells about his seat,From his fire gleam thought-rays bright,--All things doubled are in might!For the land law he planned,Keeps it, guards with head and hand,Of all rue and error quit,Crushing him who injures it.
Freedom's God is God of light,Not the bondsman's god of fright,--God of love and brotherhood,Springtime's hope and will for good.To earth's ends peace He sends!Heed the words His law commends:"One your Lord, and I am He,Have no other gods but Me!"
Words in this poem
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song of Freedom 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, Song of Freedom, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/song-of-freedom.html, id L29333.
Form and metre
Song of Freedom is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDD. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 AABBCCDD strongA · songA · taughtB · wroughtB · gleeC · melodyC · wayD · frayD
- 2 AABBCCDD tellA · fellA · starkB · markB · stillC · illC · pacedD · hasteD
- 3 AABBCCDD feetA · seatA · brightB · mightB · plannedC · handC · quitD · itD
- 4 AABBCCDD lightA · frightA · brotherhoodB · goodB · sendsC · commendsC · heD · meD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Freedom's father--power strong, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Freedom's mother--wrath and song. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Giant-stout, a youth self-taught, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Soon a giant's work he wrought. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ever he, full of glee, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Thought and wit and melody, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Mighty, merry, made his way,-- | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Labor's toil or battle-fray. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Enemies whom none could tell | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Lay in wait this foe to fell, | 7 | ······· |
| Found him waking all too stark, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sought his sleeping hours to mark, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Tried their skill, bound him still; | 6 | ······ |
| When he wakened, they fared ill. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Glad he forward strode firm-paced, | 8 | ··/˘···˘ |
| Full of power, full of haste. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bare fields blossom 'neath his feet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Commerce swells about his seat, | 7 | /˘····· |
| From his fire gleam thought-rays bright,-- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| All things doubled are in might! | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| For the land law he planned, | 7 | ······˘ |
| Keeps it, guards with head and hand, | 7 | ······· |
| Of all rue and error quit, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Crushing him who injures it. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Freedom's God is God of light, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Not the bondsman's god of fright,-- | 7 | ······· |
| God of love and brotherhood, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Springtime's hope and will for good. | 7 | /······ |
| To earth's ends peace He sends! | 6 | ······ |
| Heed the words His law commends: | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| "One your Lord, and I am He, | 7 | ······· |
| Have no other gods but Me!" | 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.