Sung for Norway's Riflemen
Fly the banner, fly the banner!For our freedom fight!'Neath the banner, 'neath the banner,Riflemen unite!Graybeard in the StortingGives his vote for right and truth,Rifle-voice supportingOf our armèd youth.Music runefulRing out tunefulBullets sent point-blank,Fiery coursing,Freedom forcingWay to royal rank;They from silent valleysTo the Storting's ralliesBring the clear "Rah! Rah!"And there clamors o'er usLoud the rifle chorus,Piercing and repeated: "Rah! Rah!Rah-rah, rah-rah, rah-rah, rah-rah."
As the lingering echo rattles,Listens sure our Mother Norway,That her sons can go the war-way,Fight her freedom's future battles.
Words in this poem
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- coursing n.
- The pursuit or running game with dogs that follow by sight instead of by scent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sung for Norway's Riflemen 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, Sung for Norway's Riflemen, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/sung-for-norway-s-riflemen.html, id L29347.
Form and metre
Sung for Norway's Riflemen is 25 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCDCDEEFGGFHHIJJII bannerA · fightB · bannerA · uniteB · stortingC · truthD · supportingC · youthD · runefulE · tunefulE · blankF · coursingG · forcingG · rankF · valleysH · ralliesH · rahI · usJ · chorusJ · rahI · rahI
- 2 ABBA rattlesA · norwayB · wayB · battlesA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Fly the banner, fly the banner! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| For our freedom fight! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| 'Neath the banner, 'neath the banner, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Riflemen unite! | 5 | ···/· |
| Graybeard in the Storting | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Gives his vote for right and truth, | 7 | ······· |
| Rifle-voice supporting | 6 | /˘·˘/˘ |
| Of our armèd youth. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Music runeful | 5 | /˘··· |
| Ring out tuneful | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Bullets sent point-blank, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Fiery coursing, | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| Freedom forcing | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Way to royal rank; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| They from silent valleys | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| To the Storting's rallies | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Bring the clear "Rah! Rah!" | 5 | ····· |
| And there clamors o'er us | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Loud the rifle chorus, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Piercing and repeated: "Rah! Rah! | 8 | /˘·˘/˘·· |
| Rah-rah, rah-rah, rah-rah, rah-rah." | 8 | ········ |
| As the lingering echo rattles, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Listens sure our Mother Norway, | 8 | /˘·//˘/· |
| That her sons can go the war-way, | 8 | ········ |
| Fight her freedom's future battles. | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
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.