Magnus the blind

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)



'Oh, let me look once again and see
Starlight the heavens o'ersweeping!'
Begged young Magnus on bended knee,
It was sore to see.
All the women afar were weeping.

'Oh, till to-morrow! The mountains to see
And ocean its blue displaying,
Only once, and then let it be!'
Thus he bent the knee,
While his friends for mercy were praying.

'Oh, in the church let God's blood so bright
Be the last blessing that greets me!
It shall bathe with a flood of light
Through eternal night
My eyes, when the darkness meets me!'

Deep sank the steel, and each seeing eye
Lightning-like night had swallowed.
'Magnus, King Magnus, good-by, good-by!'
-'Oh, good-by, good-by,-
You who eighteen summers me followed!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
159

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAAB ABAAB CACCA DEDDE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 681
Words 128
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5

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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