The Christmas Night
Wrapped was the world in slumber deep,By seaward valley and cedarn steep,And bright and blest were the dreams of its sleep;All the hours of that wonderful night-tide throughThe stars outblossomed in fields of blue,A heavenly chaplet, to diademThe King in the manger of Bethlehem.
Out on the hills the shepherds lay,Wakeful, that never a lamb might stray,Humble and clean of heart were they;Thus it was given them to hearMarvellous harpings strange and clear,Thus it was given them to seeThe heralds of the nativity.
In the dim-lit stable the mother mildLooked with holy eyes on her child,Cradled him close to her heart and smiled;Kingly purple nor crown had he,Never a trapping of royalty;But Mary saw that the baby's headWith a slender nimbus was garlanded.
Speechless her joy as she watched him there,Forgetful of pain and grief and care,And every thought in her soul was a prayer;While under the dome of the desert skyThe Kings of the East from afar drew nigh,And the great white star that was guide to themKept ward o'er the manger of Bethlehem.
Words in this poem
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
- cedarn a.
- Of or pertaining to the cedar or its wood.
- chaplet n.
- A garland or wreath to be worn on the head. [F. chapelet, dim. of OF. chapel hat, garland, dim. fr. LL. cappa. See Cap, and cf. Chapelet, Chapeau.]
- manger n.
- A trough or open box in which fodder is placed for horses or cattle to eat. [F. mangeoire, fr. manger to eat, fr. L. manducare, fr. mandere to chew. Cf. Mandible, Manducate.]
- bethlehem n.
- A hospital for lunatics; -- corrupted into bedlam. [Heb. b house of food; b house + lekhem food, lakham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of ]
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- harpings n.
- The fore parts of the wales, which encompass the bow of a vessel, and are fastened to the stem. Totten.
- nimbus n.
- A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo. See Aureola, and Glory, n., 5. [L., a rain storm, a rain cloud, the cloudshaped which enveloped the gods when they appeared on earth.]
- speechless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech.
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Christmas Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, The Christmas Night, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/the-christmas-night.html, id L29413.
Form and metre
The Christmas Night is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AAABBCC. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AAABBCC deepA · steepA · sleepA · throughB · blueB · diademC · bethlehemC
- 2 AAABBCC layA · strayA · theyA · hearB · clearB · seeC · nativityC
- 3 AAABBCC mildA · childA · smiledA · heB · royaltyB · headC · garlandedC
- 4 AAABBCC thereA · careA · prayerA · skyB · nighB · themC · bethlehemC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wrapped was the world in slumber deep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By seaward valley and cedarn steep, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| And bright and blest were the dreams of its sleep; | 10 | ·········· |
| All the hours of that wonderful night-tide through | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| The stars outblossomed in fields of blue, | 9 | ········· |
| A heavenly chaplet, to diadem | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| The King in the manger of Bethlehem. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Out on the hills the shepherds lay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wakeful, that never a lamb might stray, | 8 | /˘·/···· |
| Humble and clean of heart were they; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Thus it was given them to hear | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Marvellous harpings strange and clear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thus it was given them to see | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The heralds of the nativity. | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘ |
| In the dim-lit stable the mother mild | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Looked with holy eyes on her child, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Cradled him close to her heart and smiled; | 9 | /˘······· |
| Kingly purple nor crown had he, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Never a trapping of royalty; | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| But Mary saw that the baby's head | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| With a slender nimbus was garlanded. | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Speechless her joy as she watched him there, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Forgetful of pain and grief and care, | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| And every thought in her soul was a prayer; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| While under the dome of the desert sky | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The Kings of the East from afar drew nigh, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And the great white star that was guide to them | 10 | ·········· |
| Kept ward o'er the manger of Bethlehem. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
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.