Analysis of Venevil

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)



Fair Venevil hastened with tripping feet
    Her lover to meet.
He sang, so it rang o'er the church far away:
    "Good-day! Good-day!"

And all the little birds sang right merrily their lay:
    "Midsummer Day
     Brings us laughter and play;
But later know I little, if she twines her wreath so gay!"

She twined him a wreath of the flowers blue:
    "My eyes for you!"
He tossed it and caught it and to her did bend:
    "Good-by, my friend!"
And loudly he exulted at the field's far distant end:
    "Midsummer Day
     Brings us laughter and play;
But later know I little, if she twines her wreath so gay!"

She twined him a wreath: "Do at all you care
    For my golden hair?"
She twined one, and gave in life's hour so rare
    Her red lips' pair;
He took them and he pressed them, and he blushed as she did there.

She twined one all white as a lily-band:
    "'T is my right hand."
She twined one blood-red, with her love in each strand:
    "'T is my left hand."
He took them both and kept them both, but would not understand.

She twined of the flowers that bloomed around
    "Every one I found!"
She gathered and twined, while tears would her eyes fill:
    "Take them you will!"
In silence then he took them, but to flight he turned him still.

She twined one so large, of discordant hue:
    "My bride's-wreath true!"
She twined it and twined, till her fingers were sore:
    "Crown me, I implore!"
But when she turned, he was not there, she never saw him more.

She twined yet undaunted without a stay
    At her bride's-array.
But now it was long past the Midsummer Day,
    All the flowers away:
She twined it of the flowers, though they all were now away!
    "Midsummer Day
     Brings us laughter and play;
But later know I little, if she twines her wreath so gay!"


Scheme aabb bBBB ccdddBBB eeeee fffff gghhh cciii bbbbbBBB
Poetic Form
Metre 11101101 01011 111111001101 1111 0101011110011 1101 111001 11011101110111 1110110101 1111 11101101011 1111 01010101011101 1101 111001 11011101110111 1110111111 11101 11101011011 0111 11101110111111 1111110101 11111 11111101011 11111 1111011111101 1110101101 100111 11001111011 1111 01011111111111 1111110101 1111 11101101001 11101 11111111110111 1110100101 10101 11111101101 101001 11110101110101 1101 111001 11011101110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,745
Words 335
Sentences 22
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 8, 5, 5, 5, 5, 8
Lines Amount 44
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 160
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 03, 2023

1:38 min read
124

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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