With A Water-Lily

Henrik Johan Ibsen 1828 (Skien, Telemark) – 1906 (Kristiania)



SEE, dear, what thy lover brings;
'Tis the flower with the white wings.
Buoyed upon the quiet stream
In the spring it lay adream.

Homelike to bestow this guest,
Lodge it, dear one, in thy breast;
There its leaves the secret keep
Of a wave both still and deep.

Child, beware the tarn-fed stream;
Danger, danger, there to dream!
Though the sprite pretends to sleep,
And above the lilies peep.

Child, thy bosom is the stream;
Danger, danger, there to dream!
Though above the lilies peep,
And the sprite pretends to sleep.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
99

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabb ccdd bBdd bBdd
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 526
Words 94
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Henrik Johan Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playwrights of his time. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and A Doll's House was the world's most performed play in 2006. Ibsen's early poetic and cinematic play Peer Gynt has strong surreal elements. more…

All Henrik Johan Ibsen poems | Henrik Johan Ibsen Books

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