Song
Song brings us light with the power of lendingGlory to brighten the work that we find;Song brings us warmth with the power of rendingRigor and frost in the swift-melting mind.Song is eternal with power of blendingTime that is gone and to come in the soul,Fills it with yearnings that flow without ending,Seeking that sea where the light-surges roll.
Song brings us union, while gently beguilingDiscord and doubt on its radiant way;Song brings us union and leads, reconcilingBattle-glad passions by harmony's sway,Unto the beautiful, valiant, and holy--Some can pass over its long bridge of lightHigher and higher to visions that solelyFaith can reveal to the spirit's pure sight.
Songs from the past of the past's longings telling,Pensive and sad cast a sunset's red glow;Present time's longings in sweet music dwelling,Grateful the soul of the future shall know.Youth of all ages in song here are meeting,Sounding in tone and in word their desire;--More than we think, from the dead bringing greeting,Gather to-night in our festival choir.
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.
- blending n.
- The act of mingling.
- yearnings n.
- The maws, or stomachs, of young calves, used a rennet for curdling milk. [Cf. AS. geirnan, geyrnan, to rum. See 4th Earn.]
- beguiling a.
- Alluring by guile; deluding; misleading; diverting.
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- 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
Song 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, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/song.html, id L29324.
Form and metre
Song is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in dactylic 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 ABABACAC lendingA · findB · rendingA · mindB · blendingA · soulC · endingA · rollC
- 2 ABAB-C-C beguilingA · wayB · reconcilingA · swayB · holy · lightC · solely · sightC
- 3 ABABCDCD tellingA · glowB · dwellingA · knowB · meetingC · desireD · greetingC · choirD
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Song brings us light with the power of lending | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Glory to brighten the work that we find; | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Song brings us warmth with the power of rending | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Rigor and frost in the swift-melting mind. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Song is eternal with power of blending | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Time that is gone and to come in the soul, | 10 | ·········· |
| Fills it with yearnings that flow without ending, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Seeking that sea where the light-surges roll. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Song brings us union, while gently beguiling | 11 | ···/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Discord and doubt on its radiant way; | 10 | /˘····/˘˘· |
| Song brings us union and leads, reconciling | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·˘ |
| Battle-glad passions by harmony's sway, | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Unto the beautiful, valiant, and holy | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| --Some can pass over its long bridge of light | 10 | ·········· |
| Higher and higher to visions that solely | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Faith can reveal to the spirit's pure sight. | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| Songs from the past of the past's longings telling, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Pensive and sad cast a sunset's red glow; | 10 | /˘····/··· |
| Present time's longings in sweet music dwelling, | 11 | ˘/·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Grateful the soul of the future shall know. | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| Youth of all ages in song here are meeting, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Sounding in tone and in word their desire; | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| --More than we think, from the dead bringing greeting, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Gather to-night in our festival choir. | 12 | /˘···/˘/˘˘/˘ |
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.