To Erika Lie
When Norse nature's dowerTones will paint with power,There is more than mountain-heights that tower,--Plains spread wide-extending,Whereon at their wendingSummer nights soft dews are sending.
Forests great are growing,And in long waves goingGlommen's valley fill to overflowing,--There are green slopes vernal,Glad with joy fraternal,Open to the light supernal.
For revealing whollyAll things fine and holy--As in sunshine birds are soaring slowly,Or, their spells transmitting,Northern Lights are flitting,--None but maiden-hands are fitting.
Your hands came, and playing,O'er their secrets strayingPicture after picture are portraying,As the poet dreamed them,In soul-travail teemed them,Till your artist hands redeemed them.
Now their light far-flingingWe see flashing, swinging,Sparks as from your father's humor springing;Now there meets us nigher,Mirroring the higher,Mother's eye of softer fire.
Child-heart tones are holdingAll our minds and molding,So its faith the wide world is enfolding,While your sweet sounds sally,Truth to tell and rally,Maiden blonde from Glommen's valley.
Words in this poem
- norse a.
- Of or pertaining to ancient Scandinavia, or to the language spoken by its inhabitants. [Dan. Norsk, fr. nord north. See North.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- fraternal a.
- Pf, pertaining to, or involving, brethren; becoming to brothers; brotherly; as, fraternal affection; a fraternal embrace. [F. fraternel, LL. fraternalis, fr. L. fraternus, fr. frater brother. See Brother.]
- supernal a.
- Being in a higher place or region; locally higher; as, the supernal orbs; supernal regions. [L. supernus, from super above: cf. F. supernel. See Super-.]
- 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.
- flitting n.
- A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
- artist n.
- One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
- rally v. t.
- To collect, and reduce to order, as troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite. [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.]
- blonde a.
- Of a fair color; light-colored; as, blond hair; a blond complexion. [F., fair, light, of uncertain origin; cf. AS. blonden-feax gray-haired, old, prop. blended-haired, as a mixture of white and brown or black. See Blend, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Erika Lie 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, To Erika Lie, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/to-erika-lie.html, id L29309.
Form and metre
To Erika Lie is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AAABBB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 -AABBB dower · powerA · towerA · extendingB · wendingB · sendingB
- 2 AAABBB growingA · goingA · overflowingA · vernalB · fraternalB · supernalB
- 3 AAABBB whollyA · holyA · slowlyA · transmittingB · flittingB · fittingB
- 4 AAABBB playingA · strayingA · portrayingA · themB · themB · themB
- 5 AAABBB flingingA · swingingA · springingA · nigherB · higherB · fireB
- 6 AAABBB holdingA · moldingA · enfoldingA · sallyB · rallyB · valleyB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Norse nature's dower | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Tones will paint with power, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| There is more than mountain-heights that tower,-- | 9 | ····/˘··/ |
| Plains spread wide-extending, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Whereon at their wending | 6 | ˘/··/˘ |
| Summer nights soft dews are sending. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Forests great are growing, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| And in long waves going | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Glommen's valley fill to overflowing,-- | 10 | ··/˘··/˘·˘ |
| There are green slopes vernal, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Glad with joy fraternal, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Open to the light supernal. | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| For revealing wholly | 6 | ·˘/˘/˘ |
| All things fine and holy-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| As in sunshine birds are soaring slowly, | 10 | ··/···/˘/˘ |
| Or, their spells transmitting, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Northern Lights are flitting,-- | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| None but maiden-hands are fitting. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Your hands came, and playing, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| O'er their secrets straying | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Picture after picture are portraying, | 10 | /˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| As the poet dreamed them, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| In soul-travail teemed them, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Till your artist hands redeemed them. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Now their light far-flinging | 6 | ····/˘ |
| We see flashing, swinging, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Sparks as from your father's humor springing; | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Now there meets us nigher, | 6 | ······ |
| Mirroring the higher, | 6 | /˘˘·/˘ |
| Mother's eye of softer fire. | 7 | /˘··/˘/ |
| Child-heart tones are holding | 6 | ····/˘ |
| All our minds and molding, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| So its faith the wide world is enfolding, | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| While your sweet sounds sally, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Truth to tell and rally, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Maiden blonde from Glommen's valley. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
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.