Chrystmasse of Olde
God rest you, Chrysten gentil men,Wherever you may be,--God rest you all in fielde or hall,Or on ye stormy sea;For on this morn oure Chryst is bornThat saveth you and me.
Last night ye shepherds in ye eastSaw many a wondrous thing;Ye sky last night flamed passing brightWhiles that ye stars did sing,And angels came to bless ye nameOf Jesus Chryst, oure Kyng.
God rest you, Chrysten gentil men,Faring where'er you may;In noblesse court do thou no sport,In tournament no playe,In paynim lands hold thou thy handsFrom bloudy works this daye.
But thinking on ye gentil LordThat died upon ye tree,Let troublings cease and deeds of peaceAbound in Chrystantie;For on this morn ye Chryst is bornThat saveth you and me.
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- noblesse n.
- Dignity; greatness; noble birth or condition. [F. noblesse. See Noble.]
- tournament n.
- A mock fight, or warlike game, formerly in great favor, in which a number of combatants were engaged, as an exhibition of their address and bravery; hence, figuratively, a real battle. [OE. turnement, tornement, OF. torneiement, tornoiement, F. tournoiement a turning or wheeling round. See Tourney.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chrystmasse of Olde is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Chrystmasse of Olde, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/chrystmasse-of-olde.html, id L24664.
Form and metre
Chrystmasse of Olde is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 -A-A-A men · beA · hall · seaA · born · meA
- 2 -A-A-A east · thingA · bright · singA · name · kyngA
- 3 -A-A-A men · mayA · sport · playeA · hands · dayeA
- 4 -A---A lord · treeA · peace · chrystantie · born · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| God rest you, Chrysten gentil men, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wherever you may be,-- | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| God rest you all in fielde or hall, | 8 | ········ |
| Or on ye stormy sea; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For on this morn oure Chryst is born | 8 | ········ |
| That saveth you and me. | 6 | ······ |
| Last night ye shepherds in ye east | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Saw many a wondrous thing; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Ye sky last night flamed passing bright | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whiles that ye stars did sing, | 6 | ······ |
| And angels came to bless ye name | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of Jesus Chryst, oure Kyng. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| God rest you, Chrysten gentil men, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Faring where'er you may; | 7 | /˘˘˘/·· |
| In noblesse court do thou no sport, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| In tournament no playe, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| In paynim lands hold thou thy hands | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From bloudy works this daye. | 6 | ······ |
| But thinking on ye gentil Lord | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That died upon ye tree, | 6 | ······ |
| Let troublings cease and deeds of peace | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Abound in Chrystantie; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| For on this morn ye Chryst is born | 8 | ········ |
| That saveth you and me. | 6 | ······ |
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.