Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) lost his first wife after a miscarriage in 1835. Henry and his second wife, Fanny, happily had six children together. Unfortunately, Fanny's dress caught fire one day, which Longfellow tried to smother, but it killed her. Longfellow was greatly grieved. During the Civil War, Longfellow's oldest son Charles Appleton Longfellow joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father's blessing. In November 1864 he was severely wounded. On Christmas Day in 1864 he wrote the poem "Christmas Bells" (below).
It rings true today. I'm thankful the war in Iraq is over. For my friends in Germany, and for the world in general, I'm thankful that the Berlin Wall/Iron Curtain is down. For decades it broke "hearth-stones of a continent."
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day has been sung by a huge list of titans including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, The Carpenters, Gaither Vocal Band, Burl Ives, Johnny Cash, Casting Crowns, Sandi Patty, and more.
After learning the history behind this carol, and finding all 7 verses, Christmas Bells, rates right up there for me--in second place behind Good King Wenceslas.
Merry Christmas.
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1864
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said:
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Wikipedia article on the the poem I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Wikipedia article on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Pray for Peace.
By Jim Olsen, Christmas 2011