Post date: Dec 19, 2012 7:57:25 PM
Unbeknownst to many, Longfellow's poem, "I heard the bells on Christmas Day", has its roots in the American Civil War. The fourth and fifth stanzas, which refer to the war, have been left out of the carol. Longfellow wrote the piece on Christmas Day in 1863. Right before writing the poem, the poet suffered the death of his wife of eighteen years in a house fire, and shortly afterwards, his son ran off and joined the army and was later wounded when the American Civil War broke out. The author too felt the despair but, as the poem suggests, he found his peace soon.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!.
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!
TIll ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!
[ Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men! ]
And in despair I bowed my head;
:'There is no peace on earth, ' I said;
'For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, goodwill to men.'