Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Merry Christmas


Merry Christmas, everyone!
My sincerest best wishes to all of you during this season of light, love, and peace!

for an excellent article on Christmas poems.
Also on this site are Christmas poems 
that you can access by clicking on the titles in the left sidebar.



And here's T. S. Eliot's brilliant but little-known poem 
"The Cultivation of Christmas Trees."

The Cultivation of Christmas Trees

By T. S. Eliot

There are several attitudes towards Christmas,
Some of which we may disregard:
The social, the torpid, the patently commercial,
The rowdy (the pubs being open till midnight),
And the childish -- which is not that of the child
For whom the candle is a star, and the gilded angel
Spreading its wings at the summit of the tree
Is not only a decoration, but an angel.
The child wonders at the Christmas Tree:
Let him continue in the spirit of wonder
At the Feast as an event not accepted as a pretext;
So that the glittering rapture, the amazement
Of the first-remembered Christmas Tree,
So that the surprises, delight in new possessions
(Each one with its peculiar and exciting smell),
The expectation of the goose or turkey
And the expected awe on its appearance,
So that the reverence and the gaiety
May not be forgotten in later experience,
In the bored habituation, the fatigue, the tedium,
The awareness of death, the consciousness of failure,
Or in the piety of the convert
Which may be tainted with a self-conceit
Displeasing to God and disrespectful to the children
(And here I remember also with gratitude
St. Lucy, her carol, and her crown of fire):
So that before the end, the eightieth Christmas
(By 'eightieth' meaning whichever is the last)
The accumulated memories of annual emotion
May be concentrated into a great joy
Which shall be also a great fear, as on the occasion
When fear came upon every soul:
Because the beginning shall remind us of the end
And the first coming of the second coming.


The next prompt will be posted on January 1, 2011.
In the meantime, I wish you joy!

8 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you, Adele! Thanks for the great blogsite and for all you do for poets and poetry!

    The Eliot poem is amazing!

    Yes, "God bless us, everyone!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. MERRY CHRISTMAS, ADELE!

    Thank you ... for the blog, the prompts, the love of poetry that you share!

    The Eliot poem is glorious! I've never seen it before!

    Máire Ó Cathail (Ireland)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Bob and Maire! A very merry Christmas to both of you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wishing you a merry, merry Christmas, Adele!

    From my writing group (we share your prompts) and from me!

    Best Christmas wishes,
    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Jamie! I'm so glad to hear that you and your writing group use the prompts!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Here's a beautiful Christmas poem:


    In the Bleak Midwinter

    BY Christina Rossetti (1872)

    In the bleak mid-winter
    Frosty wind made moan,
    Earth stood hard as iron,
    Water like a stone;
    Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
    Snow on snow,
    In the bleak mid-winter
    Long ago.

    Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
    Nor earth sustain;
    Heaven and earth shall flee away
    When He comes to reign:
    In the bleak mid-winter
    A stable-place sufficed
    The Lord God Almighty,
    Jesus Christ.

    Enough for Him, whom cherubim
    Worship night and day,
    A breastful of milk
    And a mangerful of hay;
    Enough for Him, whom angels
    Fall down before,
    The ox and ass and camel
    Which adore.

    Angels and archangels
    May have gathered there,
    Cherubim and seraphim
    Thronged the air,
    But only His mother
    In her maiden bliss,
    Worshipped the Beloved
    With a kiss.

    What can I give Him,
    Poor as I am?
    If I were a shepherd
    I would bring a lamb,
    If I were a wise man
    I would do my part,
    Yet what I can I give Him,
    Give my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous! I love the Christina Rossetti poem. Thanks so much for posting it.

    ReplyDelete
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