UPPBROTT.
4. Avesta fors—this locates the scene of the poem near the old copper works at the great and little falls (Storforsen and Lillforsen) in Dalälven, the main river flowing through the poet's native province of Dalarna (Dalecarlia). The old works were recently replaced by a large steel plant, iron ore being also abundant in this old copper region. Cf. line 6, hällarnas järn.
15. As indicated here and in the title, this is a lyrical farewell to the poet's native scenes.
22. stenen—a monument commemorating the battle of Brunnbäck (also written Brunbäck). Here the peasant army of Gustav Vasa in 1521 gained their first victory over the Danish forces of King Christian sent from Stockholm under command of Gustav Trolle to put down the movement for Swedish independence. The victory was celebrated in a ballad (Dalvisan) which says:
Så körde vi jutar (Danes)i Brunbäcks älv, så vattnet dem porlade om. Vi sörjde däröver, att Kristian själv ej där tillika omkom.
JUNGFRU MARIA.
This is a selection from a group of poems, entitled Dalmålningar, utlagda på rim (Dalecarlian Paintings Interpreted in Rhyme), in which Karlfeldt describes old paintings in the churches of his native province with all the originality and quaintness that characterized these mural depictions by anonymous country artists.
1-4 form the introduction to the poem, the body of which is a direct address to the Virgin.
10. vit och lutad går has the force of a personification of the moon as an old man, white-haired and stooping, though the simile in line 9 has no such comparison in view, bågig there serving to describe the arched forehead.
12. akleja, a modification of the Latin Aquilegia, columbine.