To Missionary Skrefsrud in Santalistan
I honor you, who, though refused, affronted,Have heard the voice, and victory have won;I honor you, who still by malice hunted,Show miracles of faith and power done.
I honor you, God-thirsting soul so driven,'Mid scorn and need the spirit's war to wage;I honor you, by Gudbrand's valley given,And of her sons the foremost in this age.
I do not share your faith, your daring dreaming;This parts us not, the spirit's paths are broad.For, all things great and noble round us streaming,I worship them, because I worship God.
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Missionary Skrefsrud in Santalistan 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 Missionary Skrefsrud in Santalistan, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/to-missionary-skrefsrud-in-santalistan.html, id L29339.
Form and metre
To Missionary Skrefsrud in Santalistan is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB affrontedA · wonB · huntedA · doneB
- 2 ABAB drivenA · wageB · givenA · ageB
- 3 ABAB dreamingA · broadB · streamingA · godB
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I honor you, who, though refused, affronted, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Have heard the voice, and victory have won; | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| I honor you, who still by malice hunted, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Show miracles of faith and power done. | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| I honor you, God-thirsting soul so driven, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| 'Mid scorn and need the spirit's war to wage; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I honor you, by Gudbrand's valley given, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| And of her sons the foremost in this age. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| I do not share your faith, your daring dreaming; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| This parts us not, the spirit's paths are broad. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For, all things great and noble round us streaming, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| I worship them, because I worship God. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
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.