The Bier of Precentor A. Reitan
With smiles his soft eyes ever gleamed,When God and country thinking;With endless joy, his soul, it seemed,Faith, fatherland, was linking.His word, his song,Like springs flowed strong;They fruitful made the valley long,And quickened all there drinking.
Poor people and poor homes amongIn wintry region saddest,In Sunday's choir he always sung,Of all the world the gladdest:"The axis stoutIt turns about,Falls not the poorest home without,For thus, O God, Thou badest."
With sickness came a heavy yearAnd put to proof his singing,While helpless children standing nearHis trust to test were bringing.But glad the more,As soft notes soarWhen winds o'er hidden harp-strings pour,His song his soul was winging.
His life foretold us that erelongWith faith in God unshakenShall all our nation stand in song,And church, home, school, awaken,In Norway's song,In gladness' song,In glory of the Lord's own song,From life's low squalor taken.
Fair fatherland, do not forget,The children of his bower!He, poor as is the rosebush, yetGave gladness till death's hour--With failure's smartLet not departFrom this thy soil so glad a heart,--His garden, let it flower!
Words in this poem
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- erelong adv.
- Before the ere long.
- 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,]
- squalor n.
- Squalidness; foulness; filthness; squalidity. [L., fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bier of Precentor A. Reitan 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, The Bier of Precentor A. Reitan, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/the-bier-of-precentor-a-reitan.html, id L29323.
Form and metre
The Bier of Precentor A. Reitan is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCCB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 ABABCCCB gleamedA · thinkingB · seemedA · linkingB · songC · strongC · longC · drinkingB
- 2 A-ABCCCB amongA · saddest · sungA · gladdestB · stoutC · aboutC · withoutC · badestB
- 3 ABABCCCB yearA · singingB · nearA · bringingB · moreC · soarC · pourC · wingingB
- 4 ABABAAAB erelongA · unshakenB · songA · awakenB · songA · songA · songA · takenB
- 5 ABABCCCB forgetA · bowerB · yetA · hourB · smartC · departC · heartC · flowerB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With smiles his soft eyes ever gleamed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When God and country thinking; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| With endless joy, his soul, it seemed, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Faith, fatherland, was linking. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| His word, his song, | 4 | ···· |
| Like springs flowed strong; | 4 | ···· |
| They fruitful made the valley long, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And quickened all there drinking. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Poor people and poor homes among | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In wintry region saddest, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| In Sunday's choir he always sung, | 8 | ·/·/·/·· |
| Of all the world the gladdest: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| "The axis stout | 4 | ·/˘· |
| It turns about, | 4 | ···· |
| Falls not the poorest home without, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For thus, O God, Thou badest." | 7 | ······· |
| With sickness came a heavy year | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And put to proof his singing, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| While helpless children standing near | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| His trust to test were bringing. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But glad the more, | 4 | ···· |
| As soft notes soar | 4 | ···· |
| When winds o'er hidden harp-strings pour, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His song his soul was winging. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| His life foretold us that erelong | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| With faith in God unshaken | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Shall all our nation stand in song, | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| And church, home, school, awaken, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| In Norway's song, | 4 | ·/·· |
| In gladness' song, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In glory of the Lord's own song, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From life's low squalor taken. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Fair fatherland, do not forget, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The children of his bower! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| He, poor as is the rosebush, yet | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Gave gladness till death's hour-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| With failure's smart | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Let not depart | 4 | ··˘/ |
| From this thy soil so glad a heart,-- | 8 | ········ |
| His garden, let it flower! | 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.