Analysis of To Johan Dahl, Bookdealer
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)
(On His Sixtieth Birthday)
Our glasses we lift now and drink to our host!
'Hurrah!'
Give heed to our ditty, we sing you our toast!
'Aha!'
The first thing appearing is what he was nearing,
When uproar not fearing he came for a hearing
'Fore skerry-bred eagle
And Wergeland regal.
Oh! Ha!
He came like an innocent spring-lambkin ewe-born,
Oh, woe!
So neat and so fine in his guilelessness new-born
Like snow.
The flesh so delicious was chopped up to farce-meat,
And later by Wergeland found for a farce meet,
And gayly 't was swallowed,
And all the bones hollowed
And strown.
But swift as Thor's he-goats to life again skipping,
He sprang
Whole skinned together, and gave them a whipping
That rang.
This made him seem worthy to join the gay party,
At once they received him in fellowship hearty!
And soon was no other
More loved as a brother
Than Dahl.
The light from his shop spread afar and made brighter
Our day.
His drawing-room gathered so many a fighter
In play.
Our taste there was made and our critical passion,
The shop was a power, new Norway to fashion.
Though little, its story
Shall some time in glory
Be writ.
For what you have kindled, endured, and aspired,
Our thanks!
For hearts you have gladdened and souls you have fired,
Our thanks!
For all your good faith in your fervor and ranting,
Yes, for your whole-heartedness free from all canting,
You whimsical, queer one,
Old fellow, you dear one,
Our thanks!
Scheme | abcbcddeec fgfghhiif djdjkkllx lalammkkx xNxNddmmN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111001 1010111011101 01 1111010111101 1 011010111110 11110111010 110110 0110 11 11111001111 11 1101101111 11 011010111111 0101111011 011110 010110 01 111111110110 11 11010011010 11 111110110110 11101101010 011110 111010 11 011111010110 101 110110110010 01 10111101010010 01101011110 110110 111010 11 11111001001 101 11111011110 101 111110110010 111111111 110011 110111 101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,384 |
Words | 258 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 221 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 76 Views
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"To Johan Dahl, Bookdealer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4434/to-johan-dahl%2C-bookdealer>.
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