The Tree
Ready with leaves and with buds stood the tree."Shall I take them?" the frost said, now puffing with glee."Oh my, no, let them stand,Till flowers are at hand!"All trembling from tree-top to root came the plea.
Flowers unfolding the birds gladly sung."Shall I take them?" the wind said and merrily swung."Oh my, no, let them stand,Till cherries are at hand!"Protested the tree, while it quivering hung.
The cherries came forth 'neath the sun's glowing eye."Shall I take them?" a rosy young girl's eager cry."Oh my, yes, you can take,I've kept them for your sake!"Low bending its branches, the tree brought them nigh.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- puffing
- a. & n. from Puff, v. i. & t. Puffing adder. (Zoöl.) Same as Puff adder (b), under Puff.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tree 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 Tree, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/the-tree.html, id L29239.
Form and metre
The Tree is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBA, the Limerick.
See other limericks.
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 AABBA treeA · gleeA · standB · handB · pleaA
- 2 AABBA sungA · swungA · standB · handB · hungA
- 3 AABBA eyeA · cryA · takeB · sakeB · nighA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ready with leaves and with buds stood the tree. | 10 | /˘········ |
| "Shall I take them?" the frost said, now puffing with glee. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| "Oh my, no, let them stand, | 6 | ······ |
| Till flowers are at hand!" | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| All trembling from tree-top to root came the plea. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Flowers unfolding the birds gladly sung. | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘· |
| "Shall I take them?" the wind said and merrily swung. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| "Oh my, no, let them stand, | 6 | ······ |
| Till cherries are at hand!" | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Protested the tree, while it quivering hung. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| The cherries came forth 'neath the sun's glowing eye. | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| "Shall I take them?" a rosy young girl's eager cry. | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| "Oh my, yes, you can take, | 6 | ······ |
| I've kept them for your sake!" | 6 | ······ |
| Low bending its branches, the tree brought them nigh. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
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.