Christmas Gems

Christmas Poetry

Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes

Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long:

And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallowed and so gracious is the time

(Hamlet:  Act 1, Scene 1)

The lines above are from the first act of Hamlet, immediately after the soldiers have seen the ghost of Hamlet's father and, I think, are among the most beautiful of Christmas poetry.  We all have our own favourite Christmas poetry and below is a selection of mine:

The Journey of the Magi (T S Eliot)

Nativity (John Donne)

The Night before Christmas (Clement Clarke Moore)

Advent 1955 (John Betjeman)

The Oxen (Thomas Hardy)

The Yule Log (Robert Herrick)

Christmas 1924 (Thomas Hardy)

A Christmas Carol (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

A Hymn on the Nativity of my Saviour (Ben Johnson)

In the Workhouse:  Christmas Day