The Maidens' Song
Good-morning, sun, 'mid the leaves so green --Mind of youth in the dales' deep reaches,Smile that brightens their somber speeches,Heaven's gold on our earth-dust seen!
Good-morning, sun, o'er the royal tower!Kindly thou beckonest forth each maiden;Kindle each heart as a star light-laden,Twinkling so clear, though a sad night lower!
Good-morning, sun, o'er the mountain-side!Light the land that still sleep disguisesTill it awakens and fresh arisesFor yonder day in thy warmth's full tide!
Words in this poem
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Maidens' 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, The Maidens' Song, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/the-maidens-song.html, id L29230.
Form and metre
The Maidens' Song is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%).
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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 ABBA greenA · reachesB · speechesB · seenA
- 2 ABBA towerA · maidenB · ladenB · lowerA
- 3 ABBA sideA · disguisesB · arisesB · tideA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Good-morning, sun, 'mid the leaves so green -- | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Mind of youth in the dales' deep reaches, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Smile that brightens their somber speeches, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Heaven's gold on our earth-dust seen! | 8 | /˘··/··· |
| Good-morning, sun, o'er the royal tower! | 9 | ·/˘···/˘/ |
| Kindly thou beckonest forth each maiden; | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Kindle each heart as a star light-laden, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Twinkling so clear, though a sad night lower! | 9 | /˘······/ |
| Good-morning, sun, o'er the mountain-side! | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Light the land that still sleep disguises | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Till it awakens and fresh arises | 10 | ··˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| For yonder day in thy warmth's full tide! | 9 | ·/˘······ |
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.