Analysis of To Erika Lie

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)



When Norse nature's dower
Tones will paint with power,
There is more than mountain-heights that tower,-
Plains spread wide-extending,
Whereon at their wending
Summer nights soft dews are sending.

Forests great are growing,
And in long waves going
Glommen's valley fill to overflowing,-
There are green slopes vernal,
Glad with joy fraternal,
Open to the light supernal.

For revealing wholly
All 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 straying
Picture after picture are portraying,
As the poet dreamed them,
In soul-travail teemed them,
Till your artist hands redeemed them.

Now their light far-flinging
We 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 holding
All 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.


Scheme ABBCCC CCCDDD EEECCC XCCCFFF CCCABB CCCEEE
Poetic Form
Metre 11101 111110 1111101110 111010 11110 10111110 101110 001110 11011100 111110 111010 101011 101010 111010 101111010 111010 101110 11101110 1 11010 1011010 1010101010 101011 010111 11101011 111110 111010 1111101010 11111 100010 10111010 111110 1101010 11101111 111110 111010 1011110
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,087
Words 179
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6
Lines Amount 37
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 149
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
65

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit", becoming the first Norwegian Nobel laureate. Bjørnson is considered to be one of The Four Greats (De Fire Store) among Norwegian writers, the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland. Bjørnson is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". more…

All Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson poems | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Books

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