Synnove's Song
Have thanks for all from our childhood's day,Our play together in woodland roaming.I thought that play would go on for aye,Though life should pass to its gloaming.
I thought that play would go on for aye,From bowers leading of leafy birchesTo where the Solbakke houses lay,And where the red-painted church is.
I sat and waited through evenings longAnd scanned the ridge with the spruces yonder;But darkening mountains made shadows throng,And you the way did not wander.
I sat and waited with scarce a doubt:He'll dare the way when the sun's descended.The light shone fainter, was nearly out,The day in darkness had ended.
My weary eye is so wont to gaze,To turn its look it is slow in learning;No other landmark it seeks, nor strays,Beneath the brow sorely burning.
They name a place where I help may find,And fain to Fagerli church would guide me;But try not thither to move my mind;He sits there ever beside me.
--But good it is, that full well I know,Who placed the houses both here and yonder,Then cut a way through the woods so lowAnd let my eye on it wander.
But good it is that full well I know,Who built the church and to pray invited,And made them meeting in pairs to goBefore the altar united.
Words in this poem
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- sorely adv.
- In a sore manner; grievously; painfully; as, to be sorely afflicted.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Synnove's 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, Synnove's Song, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/synnove-s-song.html, id L29227.
Form and metre
Synnove's Song is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in iambic 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 -A-A day · roamingA · aye · gloamingA
- 2 -A-A aye · birchesA · lay · isA
- 3 ABAB longA · yonderB · throngA · wanderB
- 4 ABAB doubtA · descendedB · outA · endedB
- 5 ABAB gazeA · learningB · straysA · burningB
- 6 ABAB findA · meB · mindA · meB
- 7 ABAB knowA · yonderB · lowA · wanderB
- 8 ABAB knowA · invitedB · goA · unitedB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Have thanks for all from our childhood's day, | 9 | ·····//·· |
| Our play together in woodland roaming. | 10 | /·˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| I thought that play would go on for aye, | 9 | ········· |
| Though life should pass to its gloaming. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I thought that play would go on for aye, | 9 | ········· |
| From bowers leading of leafy birches | 9 | ·//˘·/˘/˘ |
| To where the Solbakke houses lay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And where the red-painted church is. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| I sat and waited through evenings long | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| And scanned the ridge with the spruces yonder; | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| But darkening mountains made shadows throng, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/·· |
| And you the way did not wander. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I sat and waited with scarce a doubt: | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| He'll dare the way when the sun's descended. | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| The light shone fainter, was nearly out, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| The day in darkness had ended. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| My weary eye is so wont to gaze, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| To turn its look it is slow in learning; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| No other landmark it seeks, nor strays, | 9 | ·/˘/····· |
| Beneath the brow sorely burning. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| They name a place where I help may find, | 9 | ········· |
| And fain to Fagerli church would guide me; | 10 | ·········· |
| But try not thither to move my mind; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| He sits there ever beside me. | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| --But good it is, that full well I know, | 9 | ········· |
| Who placed the houses both here and yonder, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Then cut a way through the woods so low | 9 | ········· |
| And let my eye on it wander. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But good it is that full well I know, | 9 | ········· |
| Who built the church and to pray invited, | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| And made them meeting in pairs to go | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Before the altar united. | 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.