Christmas Poems

Book Overview

A beautiful hardcover stocking-stuffer collecting the best-loved poems to celebrate the Christmas season, ranging from traditional religious poems to works by Emily Dickinson, Dorothy Parker, and Philip Larkin. AN EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY POCKET POET.

Christmas is both a holiday and a holy day, and from the start it has been associated with poetry, from the song of the seraphim above the manger to the cherished carols around the punch bowl. This garland of Christmas poems contains not only the ones you would insist on finding here ("A Visit from St. Nicholas," "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" among them) but such equally enchanting though lesser-known Yuletide treasures as:

- "The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman" by Emily Dickinson
- "Christmas is Coming" by Anthony Hecht
- "Christmas in India" by Rudyard Kipling
- "Shepherd's Song at Christmas" by Langston Hughes
- "The Christmas Robin" by Robert Graves
- "Office Party" by Phyllis McGinley
- "The Maid-Servant at the Inn" by Dorothy Parker
- "New Year Poem" by Philip Larkin

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375407898
• ISBN13: 9780375407895
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Everyman's Library
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.6" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Excellent collection of Christmas poems

This thoughtful selection is deeply satisfying and inspired me to read additional poetry by some of the authors herein. I think any sensible reader will find this collection both reassuring and provocative. There is something here for every Christmas mood; and doesn't Christmas create a lot of moods? I particularly enjoyed the section about the aftermath of Christmas.

Non-sentimental Poems for Both a Holiday and a Holy Day:

Here is an exquisite anthology, 4 1/2" x 6 1/2", small enough to fit into one's purse or pocket -- to peruse while standing in line at the p.o., at a store counter, etc. Besides Clement Moore's classic "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and familiar carols, here are "Christmas at Sea" by Robert Lewis Stevenson, "The Annunciation" by Elizabeth Jennings, and "Christmas in Biafra" by Chinua Achebe. Also read poems by J.D. McClatchy, Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson and other classic or contemporary poets in these 254 pages. Highly recommended.

Delightful

This is a warm-yet not sentimental-collection of poems which explores many sides of Christmas. It is beautifully typeset and bound and perfect for carrying on one's person for a moment of thoughtful beauty. I wish it included W.H. Auden's entire "For the Time Being" but there were several and wonderful surprising inclusions.