The Meeting
Thoughts toward one another coursingTo their pole must run,Hearts that meet, all bonds are forcing,Like the springtime sun.Though to-day too heavy sorrowDull the mind of youth,Higher on the meeting's morrowRoll the tides of truth.
Though each man with courage firedHundreds forward bore,Though a thousand died inspired,There is need of more.May a Northern Spring come blowingOver wood and field,Wake the hundred thousands, knowingMeeting-hour revealed!
Hail! A Northern day is writtenIn the brightening sky;Darksome dread, that erst had smitten,Flees, now dawn is nigh.After Gjallar-horn blasts hollow,Tears and shame and blood,As so often, now shall followFull the spirit's flood.
In our people's life deep-seatedThis is felt each day:Who grows stronger when defeated,Victor stands for aye.Our Spring-meeting's fullness swells now,Bearing prophecyOf the Spring whose hope upwells now:Hail, the Northern three!
Words in this poem
- coursing n.
- The pursuit or running game with dogs that follow by sight instead of by scent.
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Meeting 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 Meeting, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/the-meeting.html, id L29304.
Form and metre
The Meeting is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABABCDCD coursingA · runB · forcingA · sunB · sorrowC · youthD · morrowC · truthD
- 2 ABABCDCD firedA · boreB · inspiredA · moreB · blowingC · fieldD · knowingC · revealedD
- 3 ABABCDCD writtenA · skyB · smittenA · nighB · hollowC · bloodD · followC · floodD
- 4 A-ABC-CB seatedA · day · defeatedA · ayeB · nowC · prophecy · nowC · threeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thoughts toward one another coursing | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| To their pole must run, | 5 | ····· |
| Hearts that meet, all bonds are forcing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Like the springtime sun. | 5 | ··/·· |
| Though to-day too heavy sorrow | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Dull the mind of youth, | 5 | ····· |
| Higher on the meeting's morrow | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Roll the tides of truth. | 5 | ····· |
| Though each man with courage fired | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Hundreds forward bore, | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Though a thousand died inspired, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| There is need of more. | 5 | ····· |
| May a Northern Spring come blowing | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Over wood and field, | 5 | ····· |
| Wake the hundred thousands, knowing | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Meeting-hour revealed! | 6 | /˘/˘˘/ |
| Hail! A Northern day is written | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| In the brightening sky; | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Darksome dread, that erst had smitten, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Flees, now dawn is nigh. | 5 | ····· |
| After Gjallar-horn blasts hollow, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Tears and shame and blood, | 5 | ····· |
| As so often, now shall follow | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Full the spirit's flood. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In our people's life deep-seated | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| This is felt each day: | 5 | ····· |
| Who grows stronger when defeated, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Victor stands for aye. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Our Spring-meeting's fullness swells now, | 8 | /·/˘/˘·· |
| Bearing prophecy | 5 | /˘/˘˘ |
| Of the Spring whose hope upwells now: | 8 | ········ |
| Hail, the Northern three! | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.