Christmas Day Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEDFGHIJKLMNDOPQR AASTUVCWXYZA2B2C2D2A E2F2G2H2I2QJ2K2L2M2N N2O2P2LQ2R2A CS2T2U2LV2W2X2Y2Z2A3 B3C3D3E3M2F3G3C3Y2H3 YC3I3J3AK3L3L3L3L3C3 X2C3KAM3DN3O3P3Q2Q3C 3C2C3C3AH2I3A Q3How will it dawn the coming Christmas Day | A |
A northern Christmas such as painters love | B |
And kinsfolk shaking hands but once a year | C |
And dames who tell old legends by the fire | D |
Red sun blue sky white snow and pearled ice | E |
Keen ringing air which sets the blood on fire | D |
And makes the old man merry with the young | F |
Through the short sunshine through the longer night | G |
Or southern Christmas dark and dank with mist | H |
And heavy with the scent of steaming leaves | I |
And rosebuds mouldering on the dripping porch | J |
One twilight without rise or set of sun | K |
Till beetles drone along the hollow lane | L |
And round the leafless hawthorns flitting bats | M |
Hawk the pale moths of winter Welcome then | N |
At best the flying gleam the flying shower | D |
The rain pools glittering on the long white roads | O |
And shadows sweeping on from down to down | P |
Before the salt Atlantic gale yet come | Q |
In whatsoever garb or gay or sad | R |
Come fair come foul 'twill still be Christmas Day | A |
How will it dawn the coming Christmas Day | A |
To sailors lounging on the lonely deck | S |
Beneath the rushing trade wind Or to him | T |
Who by some noisome harbour of the East | U |
Watches swart arms roll down the precious bales | V |
Spoils of the tropic forests year by year | C |
Amid the din of heathen voices groaning | W |
Himself half heathen How to those brave hearts | X |
Who toil with laden loins and sinking stride | Y |
Beside the bitter wells of treeless sands | Z |
Toward the peaks which flood the ancient Nile | A2 |
To free a tyrant's captives How to those | B2 |
New patriarchs of the new found underworld | C2 |
Who stand like Jacob on the virgin lawns | D2 |
And count their flocks' increase To them that day | A |
Shall dawn in glory and solstitial blaze | E2 |
Of full midsummer sun to them that morn | F2 |
Gay flowers beneath their feet gay birds aloft | G2 |
Shall tell of nought but summer but to them | H2 |
Ere yet unwarned by carol or by chime | I2 |
They spring into the saddle thrills may come | Q |
From that great heart of Christendom which beats | J2 |
Round all the worlds and gracious thoughts of youth | K2 |
Of steadfast folk who worship God at home | L2 |
Of wise words learnt beside their mothers' knee | M2 |
Of innocent faces upturned once again | N |
In awe and joy to listen to the tale | N2 |
Of God made man and in a manger laid | O2 |
May soften purify and raise the soul | P2 |
From selfish cares and growing lust of gain | L |
And phantoms of this dream which some call life | Q2 |
Toward the eternal facts for here or there | R2 |
Summer or winter 'twill be Christmas Day | A |
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Blest day which aye reminds us year by year | C |
What 'tis to be a man to curb and spurn | S2 |
The tyrant in us that ignobler self | T2 |
Which boasts not loathes its likeness to the brute | U2 |
And owns no good save ease no ill save pain | L |
No purpose save its share in that wild war | V2 |
In which through countless ages living things | W2 |
Compete in internecine greed Ah God | X2 |
Are we as creeping things which have no Lord | Y2 |
That we are brutes great God we know too well | Z2 |
Apes daintier featured silly birds who flaunt | A3 |
Their plumes unheeding of the fowler's step | B3 |
Spiders who catch with paper not with webs | C3 |
Tigers who slay with cannon and sharp steel | D3 |
Instead of teeth and claws all these we are | E3 |
Are we no more than these save in degree | M2 |
No more than these and born but to compete | F3 |
To envy and devour like beast or herb | G3 |
Mere fools of nature puppets of strong lusts | C3 |
Taking the sword to perish with the sword | Y2 |
Upon the universal battle field | H3 |
Even as the things upon the moor outside | Y |
The heath eats up green grass and delicate flowers | C3 |
The pine eats up the heath the grub the pine | I3 |
The finch the grub the hawk the silly finch | J3 |
And man the mightiest of all beasts of prey | A |
Eats what he lists the strong eat up the weak | K3 |
The many eat the few great nations small | L3 |
And he who cometh in the name of all | L3 |
He greediest triumphs by the greed of all | L3 |
And armed by his own victims eats up all | L3 |
While ever out of the eternal heavens | C3 |
Looks patient down the great magnanimous God | X2 |
Who Maker of all worlds did sacrifice | C3 |
All to Himself Nay but Himself to one | K |
Who taught mankind on that first Christmas Day | A |
What 'twas to be a man to give not take | M3 |
To serve not rule to nourish not devour | D |
To help not crush if need to die not live | N3 |
O blessed day which givest the eternal lie | O3 |
To self and sense and all the brute within | P3 |
Oh come to us amid this war of life | Q2 |
To hall and hovel come to all who toil | Q3 |
In senate shop or study and to those | C3 |
Who sundered by the wastes of half a world | C2 |
Ill warned and sorely tempted ever face | C3 |
Nature's brute powers and men unmanned to brutes | C3 |
Come to them blest and blessing Christmas Day | A |
Tell them once more the tale of Bethlehem | H2 |
The kneeling shepherds and the Babe Divine | I3 |
And keep them men indeed fair Christmas Day | A |
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Eversley | Q3 |
Charles Kingsley
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Write your comment about Christmas Day poem by Charles Kingsley
Betty Ann west: It could have been said in much less time and space. I read it all. I was not impressed. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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