We are another week closer to Christmas and mid-month panic has officially begun. Do I have all my gifts? Will my work be wrapped up before Christmas break? Will the things that I've put off for January behave and stay put?

Take a break from these worries for a few minutes and enjoy a quiet breath with a few slices of poetry pie.

Noel

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Many are (unfortunately) surprised to find that Tolkien wrote poetry. As a philologist, Tolkien had one of the key features required of a poet: a love for words. Much of his poetry resides within the realm of Middle Earth, but there are other poems that he wrote, such as this Christmas one.

This poem is written in ballad verse, where a line of tetrameter (four feet) is followed by a line of trimeter (three feet). Ballad verse typically runs in units of four lines with A-B-A-B rhyming; you can see this from the fact that most sentences last for four lines.

The poem has a dramatic and somber opening, a turn as Mary begins to sing, and then a joyous conclusion as the "bells of Paradise" ring out. Notice how the final verse is almost an exact mirror of the first verse, this time with stars out, the halls filled with life, and the fires burning warm with praise to the God who came to earth.

Where Do Christmas Songs Begin?

Timothy Dudley-Smith (1926-2024)

Writing a good and unique Christmas hymn (or poem) is deceptively difficult. The subject matter (the birth of Christ!) is packed with unending mystery and wonder, but the fact that we have heard and sung so many of these songs since our childhood often makes it difficult to say things in a new way. We find ourselves singing songs like "Hark, the Herald" almost on auto-pilot, tragically not even considering what our lips are saying. Good writing can help to break this cycle and arrest your attention. It's not that new things need to be said, but rather that the same old (beautiful) things need to be said in new and creative ways. A good poem/hymn will stoke the already existing coals to bring forth new flames for warmth, delight, and illumination.

This hymn is one of those. I (never having heard it before) came across it in a Baptist hymnal as I was searching for Christmas hymns. It was written by a bishop of the Church of England who just passed away this year. I was able to find only one actual recording of the hymn, which you can find on YouTube.

The Old Cloak

Anonymous (16th Century)

I found this humorous poem quite early on in my copy of The Oxford Book of English Verse. Written around 500 years ago, this poem captures a mundane disagreement between a husband and wife over whether the man should go out in the cold to save their cow. The wife is nagging and concerned; the husband is lazy and rationalizing. It's nice to know that people haven't changed much in half a century.

Being an old poem, there are many archaic words. Most can be inferred by their context, but here are the meanings of a few repeated ones:

  • flyte: to scold or rail at
  • kens: to see or know

Singing in the Rain

Abram Newcomer

I wrote this sonnet for my wife while we were dating, obviously inspired by the movie "Singing in the Rain" with Gene Kelly. I've always loved the iconic scene of him singing this song and dancing as it pours, grinning from ear to ear. There are references to Cribbage, a card game requiring a board where you "stock pegs" with points as you get them, and to the fact that my wife would rarely wear socks, even on cold days. It is a nice snapshot of our life and my thoughts over five years ago.

I hope your enjoyed these slices of poetry and have a very good week.