Christmas Carol
O lovely voices of the sky,That hymn’d the Saviour’s birth!Are ye not singing still on high,Ye that sang “Peace on earth?”To us yet speak the strainsWherewith, in days gone by,Ye bless’d the Syrian swains,O voices of the sky!
O clear and shining light! whose beamsThat hour heaven’s glory shedAround the palms, and o’er the streams,And on the shepherd’s head;Be near, through life and death,As in that holiest nightOf Hope, and Joy, and Faith,O clear and shining light!
O star! which led to Him whose loveBrought down man’s ransom free;Where art thou?--Midst the hosts aboveMay we still gaze on thee?In heaven thou art not set,Thy rays earth might not dim--Send them to guide us yet,O star which led to Him!
Words in this poem
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Christmas Carol is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Christmas Carol, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/christmas-carol-2.html, id L19463.
Form and metre
Christmas Carol is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCACA skyA · birthB · highA · earthB · strainsC · byA · swainsC · skyA
- 2 ABAB-C-C beamsA · shedB · streamsA · headB · death · nightC · faith · lightC
- 3 ABABCDCD loveA · freeB · aboveA · theeB · setC · dimD · yetC · himD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O lovely voices of the sky, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That hymn’d the Saviour’s birth! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Are ye not singing still on high, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ye that sang “Peace on earth?” | 6 | ······ |
| To us yet speak the strains | 6 | ······ |
| Wherewith, in days gone by, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Ye bless’d the Syrian swains, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O voices of the sky! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O clear and shining light! whose beams | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That hour heaven’s glory shed | 7 | ·//˘/˘· |
| Around the palms, and o’er the streams, | 8 | ········ |
| And on the shepherd’s head; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Be near, through life and death, | 6 | ······ |
| As in that holiest night | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of Hope, and Joy, and Faith, | 6 | ······ |
| O clear and shining light! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O star! which led to Him whose love | 8 | ········ |
| Brought down man’s ransom free; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where art thou?--Midst the hosts above | 8 | ········ |
| May we still gaze on thee? | 6 | ······ |
| In heaven thou art not set, | 6 | ·/···· |
| Thy rays earth might not dim-- | 6 | ······ |
| Send them to guide us yet, | 6 | ······ |
| O star which led to Him! | 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.