Analysis of A Brother In Need
Henrik Johan Ibsen 1828 (Skien, Telemark) – 1906 (Kristiania)
NOW, rallying once if ne'er again,
With flag at half-mast flown,
A people in dire need and strain
Mans Tyra's bastion.
Betrayed in danger's hour, betrayed
Before the stress of strife!
Was this the meaning that it had--
That clasp of hands at Axelstad
Which gave the North new life?
The words that seemed as if they rushed
From deepest heart-springs out
Were phrases, then! -- the freshet gushed,
And now is fall'n the drought.
The tree, that promised rich in bloom
Mid festal sun and shower,
Stands wind-stript in the louring gloom,
A cross to mark young Norway's tomb,
The first dark testing-hour.
They were but Judas kisses, lies
In fatal wreaths enwound,
The cheers of Norway's sons, and cries
Towards the beach of Sound.
What passed that time we watched them meet,
'Twixt Norse and Danish lord?
Oh! nothing! only to repeat
King Gustav's play at Stockholm's seat
With the Twelfth Charles' sword.
'A people doomed, whose knell is rung,
Betrayed by every friend!' --
Is the book closed and the song sung?
Is this our Denmark's end?
Who set the craven colophon,
While Germans seized the hold,
And o'er the last Dane lying prone
Old Denmark's tattered flag was thrown
With doubly crimsoned fold?
But thou, my brother Norsemen, set
Beyond the war-storm's power
Because thou knewest to forget
Fair words in danger's hour:
Flee from thy homes of ancient fame--
Go chase a new sunrise--
Pursue oblivion, and for shame
Disguise thee in a stranger's name
To hide from thine own eyes!
Each wind that sighs from Danish waves
Through Norway's woods of pine,
Of thy pale lips an answer craves:
Where wast thou, brother mine?
I fought for both a deadly fight;
In vain to spy thy prow
O'er belt and fiord I strained my sight:
My fatherland with graves grew white:
My brother, where wast thou?
It was a dream! Arise, awake
To do a nation's deed!
Each to his post, swift counsel take;
A brother is in need!
A nobler song may yet be sung--
Danes, Danes, keep Tyra's hold--
And o'er a Northern era, young
And rich in hope, be proudly flung
The red flag's tattered fold.
Scheme | ABXX CDXCD EFEFGHGGH ICIXJKJJK LMLMANBBN OHOHPIPPI QRQRSTSST UVUVLNLLN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110011101 111111 01001101 1110 01011001 010111 11010111 111111 110111 01111111 110111 0101011 0111101 01110101 111010 1110011 0111111 0111010 10110101 01011 0111101 010111 11111111 110101 11010101 111111 10111 01011111 0111001 10110011 111011 110101 110101 010011101 1110111 11011 11110101 0101110 0111101 110110 11111101 11011 010100011 01100101 111111 11111101 11111 11111101 111101 11110101 011111 101011111 1101111 110111 11010101 110101 11111101 010101 01011111 11111 010010101 01011101 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,060 |
Words | 368 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 5, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 63 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 198 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:56 min read
- 58 Views
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"A Brother In Need" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17234/a-brother-in-need>.
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