They Have Found Each Other
Mute they wander,Meeting yonder,In the wondrous Spring new-born,That though old as Time's first morn,Brings fresh youth to all the living,Now held fast, now far retreating,But through hearts in oneness beatingEver fullest bloom is giving.Mute they wander. E'en the eyeSpeaks no thought. For from on highTo their souls sweet strains have spokenFrom the wide world's harmony,Born of light, the darkness broken,In the dawn of things to be.Power crowned--Earth aroundLike a sun-song rolled the sound.Mute they wander. Sweet strains ending--Eye nor tongue dares yet the lendingSpeech to thought.But lo! quick blending,All things speak! They sound and shimmer,Bloom in fragrance, ring and glimmer,Tint and tone combining, nearer,Meet as one-with all their thinkingIn one beauty, higher, clearer,--Heaven itself to earth is sinking.
But in this great hour of trystingLife is opened, its course brightened,Growth eternal calls, enlistingEvery spirit-power heightened.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- blending n.
- The act of mingling.
- shimmer v. i.
- To shine with a tremulous or intermittent light; to shine faintly; to gleam; to glisten; to glimmer. [OE. schimeren, AS. scimerian; akin to scimian, sciman, to glitter, D. schemeren, G. schimmern, Dan. skimre, Sw. skimra, AS. scima a light, brightness, Icel. ski]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- trysting n.
- An appointment; a tryst. Trysting day, an arranged day of meeting or assembling, as of soldiers, friends, and the like.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
They Have Found Each Other 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, They Have Found Each Other, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/they-have-found-each-other.html, id L29337.
Form and metre
They Have Found Each Other is 31 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCDDCEEF-FEGGGHH-HIIJKJK wanderA · yonderA · bornB · mornB · livingC · retreatingD · beatingD · givingC · eyeE · highE · spokenF · harmony · brokenF · beE · crownedG · aroundG · soundG · endingH · lendingH · thought · blendingH · shimmerI · glimmerI · nearerJ · thinkingK · clearerJ · sinkingK
- 2 ABAB trystingA · brightenedB · enlistingA · heightenedB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mute they wander, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Meeting yonder, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| In the wondrous Spring new-born, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| That though old as Time's first morn, | 7 | ······· |
| Brings fresh youth to all the living, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Now held fast, now far retreating, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| But through hearts in oneness beating | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Ever fullest bloom is giving. | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Mute they wander. E'en the eye | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Speaks no thought. For from on high | 7 | ······· |
| To their souls sweet strains have spoken | 8 | ······/˘ |
| From the wide world's harmony, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Born of light, the darkness broken, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| In the dawn of things to be. | 7 | ······· |
| Power crowned-- | 3 | /˘· |
| Earth around | 3 | ··· |
| Like a sun-song rolled the sound. | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| Mute they wander. Sweet strains ending-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Eye nor tongue dares yet the lending | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Speech to thought. | 3 | ··· |
| But lo! quick blending, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| All things speak! They sound and shimmer, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Bloom in fragrance, ring and glimmer, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Tint and tone combining, nearer, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Meet as one-with all their thinking | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In one beauty, higher, clearer,-- | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Heaven itself to earth is sinking. | 9 | /˘˘/···/˘ |
| But in this great hour of trysting | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Life is opened, its course brightened, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Growth eternal calls, enlisting | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Every spirit-power heightened. | 9 | /˘˘/˘/˘/˘ |
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