[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.66″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”22″ border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
Poetry of Place<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.66″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”18″ border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Jeff M. Sauve<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.66″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n The valley of the stalwart pines beneath the college hill So wrote St. Olaf College\u2019s athletic coach, Ade Christenson, to his beloved in 1926. Others like him over the last century-plus have been inspired to capture the beauty of Norway Valley in the form of poetry. With titles like \u201cFrom Norway Valley,\u201d \u201cIn Norway Valley,\u201d \u201cLay of Norway Valley,\u201d and \u201cThe Vale of Tawasentha,\u201d each poem relies upon a common motif\u2014that of the majesty of the evergreen pine as found in such lines as:<\/p>\n The twilight gently, gently lets fall; the shadow on the dusky bough.<\/p>\n The pine trees murmur low. Speaking of things eternal.<\/p>\n There kingly pines lift their branches high; In supplication to the sky.<\/p>\n When the college purchased Norway Valley in 1889, the former owner had harvested the majority of hardwood maple and elm trees for firewood. Anna E. Mohn, wife of the first college president, Thorbjorn N. Mohn, recalled in her 1906 reminiscences that the valley \u201cwas shorn of its beauty and grandeur by the woodman\u2019s ax. Nothing but bare stumps remained to tell the story of the trees . . . The question was now how to restore its beauty?\u201d<\/p>\n Mrs. Mohn stated that evergreens were a favorite of Norwegians and a plan developed to plant a thousand trees in the Vale of Tawasentha, as Norway Valley was then commonly called. Reverend I.M. Dahl, a member of the college\u2019s Board of Trustees, volunteered to contribute all the funds for this purpose.<\/p>\n In the decades that followed, the surviving pines matured into a verdant forest and gave credence to lines found in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow\u2019s poem, \u201cThe Song of Hiawatha\u201d:<\/p>\n In the vale of Tawasentha, [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery _builder_version=”3.0.66″ show_title_and_caption=”on” show_pagination=”on” gallery_ids=”561,560,559,557,556,555″ fullwidth=”off” orientation=”landscape” zoom_icon_color=”#1eaa98″ hover_overlay_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” background_layout=”light” border_style=”solid” auto=”off” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_audio _builder_version=”3.0.66″ audio=”https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/The_Vale_of_Tawasentha_Poem.mp3″ background_layout=”dark” border_style=”solid” title=”The Vale of Tawasentha” artist_name=”John Moe, St. Olaf Class of 1925″ \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_audio _builder_version=”3.0.66″ audio=”https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Norway_Valley_Poem.mp3″ background_layout=”dark” border_style=”solid” title=”Norway Valley” artist_name=”Harriet Hilleboe, St. Olaf Class of 1923″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\"][et_pb_row][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-st-olaf-college"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Three_Lads_Norway_Valley_Postcard_1908.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAway from all the campus stir\u2014a place so quiet and still . . .<\/p>\n
\nIn the green and silent valley,
\nBy the pleasant water-courses,
\nStood the groves of singing pine-trees,
\nGreen in Summer, white in Winter,
\nEver sighing, ever singing.<\/p>\n