Poetry Analysis Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Christmas carol that most people recognize as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was originally a poem"Christmas Bells,"by American poetHenry Wadsworth Longfellow. Written in December 1864 as a bitter yet hopefulreaction to the American Civil War, the poem was not originally envisioned as a Christmas carol.
Longfellow begins “Christmas Bells” on a joyful, optimistic note. The speaker hears the Christmas bells chiming the “old, familiar carols,” reminiscent of happy Christmases past. The speaker then seems to set the “wild and sweet” sound of bells free. The “unbroken song” flows from “the belfries of all Christendom” and are sent “ringing, singing on its way.” World-wide, unbridled happiness is carried to all the world in the bells’ Christmas “chant sublime” of “peace on earth, goodwill to men.”
However, the message of peace and goodwill the bells carry is suddenly drowned out by the sound of human war and hate, personified by firing cannon. Longfellow’s cannon have “black, accursed mouth[s]” and their sound tears the earth apart “as if an earthquake rent/The hearth-stones of a continent.” Like the Christmas bells, the cannon send their sound echoing around the world, but where the ringing bells unite the world in joy, the sound of cannon fire divides the world with hatred.
The sounds of war shake the speaker’s confidence in the message of the bells. He declares that “there is no peace on Earth” and that “hate is strong/And mocks the song” of the bells. While the speaker is despairing over the state of humanity and the planet, he hears the ringing of the bells swell again until they drown out the roar of the cannon and his hope is restored.
The desolate tone of stanzas four, five, and six is replaced with jubilation in the final verse. Despite the presence of war and violence in the world, the speaker offers readers hope for the future, saying. “The Wrong shall fail,/The Right prevail.” He insists that God still influences human affairs and that the joyous Christmas bells proclaim God’s presence. The recurring phrase “peace on earth, goodwill to men” that appears last line in the last line of each verse serves in the end, to reinforce this concept.
That phrase also hammers home the idea that Christmas is about “peace on earth goodwill to men” while suggesting, as the poem moves from joy to fear to despair and back to joy again, that the treasured ideals of peace and goodwill should be universal as they are within the poem and that they are also endangered when hate, war, and violence are present in the world.
At the same time, the last triumphant verse suggests that no matter how far the world sinks into violence, the human spirit is capable of overcoming it, especially at Christmas time. Just when it seems that the sounds of war have drowned out those of Christmas, “pealed the bells more loud and deep,” spreading their message of peace and hope above the din of human carnage.
The concept of peace and goodwill triumphing over evil at Christmas time is also the focus of theChristmas carol version of the poem.In this version, stanzas four and five have been omitted. The joyous tone of the carol permeates most of the poem, overshadowed for a moment, by the doubts of the speaker in the fourth stanza, then reinforced again in the last verse. Gone are the reasons for the speakers doubt and the extended questioning of humanity’s ability to achieve goodwill and peace on earth. The overall feel of the poem reflects the happiness of the world at Christmas while dismissing any questioning of that joy. The removal of stanzas four and five of the original poem creates a Christmas carol that is much more innocent and simplistic in its message. However, concentrating mostly on the happier, more reassuring aspects of the poem makes for a more satisfying Christmas song.
Both the original poem and shortened Christmas carol version that came later have a valid purpose. The original poem contrasts the traditional joys of Christmas with the horror and despair of war, heightened as they are in the Christmas season. It reminds readers just how easily peace and love can be destroyed by violence and hate, yet ultimately provides readers with the hope that that violence and hate can be overcome by the very aspects of Christmas it seeks to destroy. The carol offers a simpler, more innocent view of the contrast between Christmas joy and the world’s cruelty. Both versions offer hope in the last stanza that, swayed by the Christmas message of peace and goodwill, people can overcome the evil in their world.
