When Comes the Morning?
When comes the real morning?When golden, the sun's rays hoverOver the earth's snow-cover,And where the shadows nestle,Wrestle,Lifting lightward the root enringèdTill it shall seem an angel wingèd,Then it is morning,Real, real morning.But if the weather is badAnd my spirit sad,Never morning I know.No.
Truly, it's real morning,When blossom the buds winter-beaten,The birds having drunk and eatenAre glad as they sing, diviningShiningGreat new crowns to the tree-tops given,Cheering the brooks to the broad ocean riven.Then it is morning,Real, real morning.But if the weather is badAnd my spirit sad,Never morning I know.No.
When comes the real morning?When power to conquer parriesSorrow and storm, and carriesSun to the soul, whose burningYearningOpens in love and calls to others:Good to be unto all as brothers.Then it is morning,Real, real morning.Greatest power you know--And most dangerous, lo!--Will you this then possess?Yes.
Words in this poem
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- nestle v. i.
- To make and occupy a nest; to nest. [AS. nestlian.]
- wrestle v. i.
- To contend, by grappling with, and striving to trip or throw down, an opponent; as, they wrestled skillfully. [OE. wrestlen, wrastlen, AS. wr, freq. of wr to wrest; akin to OD. wrastelen to wrestle. See Wrest, v. t.]
- 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
When Comes the Morning? 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, When Comes the Morning?, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/when-comes-the-morning.html, id L29354.
Form and metre
When Comes the Morning? is 39 lines in 3 stanzas of 13 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBCCDDAAEEFF.
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 ABBCCDDAAEEFF morningA · hoverB · coverB · nestleC · wrestleC · enringèdD · wingèdD · morningA · morningA · badE · sadE · knowF · noF
- 2 ABBCCDDAAEEFF morningA · beatenB · eatenB · diviningC · shiningC · givenD · rivenD · morningA · morningA · badE · sadE · knowF · noF
- 3 ABBCCDDAAEEFF morningA · parriesB · carriesB · burningC · yearningC · othersD · brothersD · morningA · morningA · knowE · loE · possessF · yesF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When comes the real morning? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| When golden, the sun's rays hover | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Over the earth's snow-cover, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And where the shadows nestle, | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| Wrestle, | 2 | /˘ |
| Lifting lightward the root enringèd | 8 | /˘······ |
| Till it shall seem an angel wingèd, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then it is morning, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Real, real morning. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| But if the weather is bad | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And my spirit sad, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Never morning I know. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| No. | 1 | · |
| Truly, it's real morning, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| When blossom the buds winter-beaten, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The birds having drunk and eaten | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Are glad as they sing, divining | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Shining | 2 | /˘ |
| Great new crowns to the tree-tops given, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Cheering the brooks to the broad ocean riven. | 10 | /˘·····//˘ |
| Then it is morning, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Real, real morning. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| But if the weather is bad | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And my spirit sad, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Never morning I know. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| No. | 1 | · |
| When comes the real morning? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| When power to conquer parries | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Sorrow and storm, and carries | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Sun to the soul, whose burning | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yearning | 2 | /˘ |
| Opens in love and calls to others: | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Good to be unto all as brothers. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Then it is morning, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Real, real morning. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Greatest power you know | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| --And most dangerous, lo!-- | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Will you this then possess? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Yes. | 1 | · |
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.