Child’s Carol
When there dawns a certain StarComes a Stranger into the city;The feet of prayer his dear feet are,His hands they are the hands of pity.
Every houseplace rich and poorShall show for welcome a sprig of green,And every heart shall open its doorTo let the Stranger enter in.
I will set my door ajarThat he may enter if he please;The eyes of love his dear eyes are,His brow it is the brow of peace.
Through the heart of every childAnd man and woman in the cityHe shall pass, and they be filledWith love and peace and prayer and pity.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- ajar adv.
- Slightly turned or opened; as, the door was standing ajar. [OE. on char ajar, on the turn; AS. cerr, cyrr, turn, akin to G. kehren to turn, and to D. akerre. See Char.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Child’s Carol is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56244; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Farjeon, Child’s Carol, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/child-s-carol.html, id L21962.
Form and metre
Child’s Carol is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB starA · cityB · areA · pityB
- 2 -A-A poor · greenA · door · inA
- 3 A-A- ajarA · please · areA · peace
- 4 -A-A child · cityA · filled · pityA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When there dawns a certain Star | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Comes a Stranger into the city; | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| The feet of prayer his dear feet are, | 8 | ········ |
| His hands they are the hands of pity. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Every houseplace rich and poor | 8 | /˘······ |
| Shall show for welcome a sprig of green, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And every heart shall open its door | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| To let the Stranger enter in. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I will set my door ajar | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| That he may enter if he please; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The eyes of love his dear eyes are, | 8 | ········ |
| His brow it is the brow of peace. | 8 | ········ |
| Through the heart of every child | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| And man and woman in the city | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| He shall pass, and they be filled | 8 | ·······˘ |
| With love and peace and prayer and pity. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.