The Hare and the Fox
The fox lay still by the birch-tree's rootIn the heather.The hare was running with nimble footO'er the heather.Was ever brighter a sunshine-day,Before, behind me, and every way,O'er the heather!
The fox laughed low by the birch-tree's rootIn the heather.The hare was running with daring footO'er the heather.
I am so happy for everything!Hallo! Why go you with mighty springO'er the heather?
The fox lay hid by the birch-tree's rootIn the heather.The hare dashed to him with reckless footO'er the heather.May God have mercy, but this is queer! --Good gracious, how dare you dance so hereO'er the heather?
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Hare and the Fox 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 Hare and the Fox, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/the-hare-and-the-fox.html, id L29228.
Form and metre
The Hare and the Fox is 21 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%).
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-ABBA root · heatherA · foot · heatherA · dayB · wayB · heatherA
- 2 -A-A root · heatherA · foot · heatherA
- 3 AA- everythingA · springA · heather
- 4 -A-ABBA root · heatherA · foot · heatherA · queerB · hereB · heatherA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The fox lay still by the birch-tree's root | 9 | ········· |
| In the heather. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The hare was running with nimble foot | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| O'er the heather. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Was ever brighter a sunshine-day, | 8 | ·//˘·/·· |
| Before, behind me, and every way, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| O'er the heather! | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The fox laughed low by the birch-tree's root | 9 | ········· |
| In the heather. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The hare was running with daring foot | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| O'er the heather. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| I am so happy for everything! | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Hallo! Why go you with mighty spring | 9 | ······/˘· |
| O'er the heather? | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The fox lay hid by the birch-tree's root | 9 | ········· |
| In the heather. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The hare dashed to him with reckless foot | 9 | ······/˘· |
| O'er the heather. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| May God have mercy, but this is queer! -- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Good gracious, how dare you dance so here | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| O'er the heather? | 4 | ··/˘ |
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.