History & Politics

Master or Slave

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832–1910

Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer (1915) · From Poems and Songs (1870; Palmer 1915)

History & Politics

Lo, this land that lifts around it
Threatening peaks, while stern seas bound it,
With cold winters, summers bleak,
Curtly smiling, never meek,
'Tis the giant we must master,
Till he work our will the faster.
He shall carry, though he clamor,
He shall haul and saw and hammer,
Turn to light the tumbling torrent,--
All his din and rage abhorrent
Shall, if we but do our duty,
Win for us a realm of beauty.

MLA

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne. “Master or Slave.” Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bjornson/125/.

Chicago

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne. “Master or Slave.” Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bjornson/125/.

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