Christmas poems for a magic holiday atmosphere, to enlighten and warm up your festive time by English-culture.com blog and Carl William Brown. Merry Christmas!

Christmas tries to renew our hope, reminding us of what is dearest to our hearts, but the season also awakens our childhood memories and therefore Christmas has the poetic power of enphasizing in our mind the spiritual memories of what is drammaticaly already passed away, of what is tragigally lost for ever and will never come back again. That’s why its atmosphere is a mixture of joy and sadness, and that’s why is very useful to remember this Latin quote, in tristitia hilaris, in hilaritate tristis.
Carl William Brown

Let Every Day Be Christmas

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

Peace on Earth, good will to men,
kind thoughts and words of cheer,
are things we should use often
and not just once a year.

Remember too the Christ-child, grew up to be a man;
to hide him in a cradle, is not our dear Lord’s plan.
So keep the Christmas spirit, share it with others far and near,
from week to week and month to month, throughout the entire year!

Norman Wesley Brooks

Where are the children who haven’t got their Christmas tree
with silver snow, fairy lights
and chocolate fruits?
Hurry up, hurry up, gathering,
We go in Chritmas trees land,
I know where it is.

Gianni Rodari

Whose heart doth hold the Christmas glow
Hath little need of Mistletoe;
Who bears a smiling grace of mien
Need waste no time on wreaths of green;
Whose lips have words of comfort spread
Needs not the holly – berries red –
His very presence scatters wide
The spirit of the Christmastide.

John Kendrick Bangs

Christ climbed down
from His bare Tree
this year
and ran away to where
there were no rootless Christmas trees
hung with candycanes and breakable stars
Christ climbed down
from His bare Tree
this year
and ran away to where
there were no gilded Christmas trees
and no tinsel Christmas trees
and no tinfoil Christmas trees
and no pink plastic Christmas trees
and no gold Christmas trees
and no black Christmas trees
and no powderblue Christmas trees
hung with electric candles
and encircled by tin electric trains
and clever cornball relatives

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

It was the calm and silent night!
Seven hundred years and fifty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might
And now was queen of land and sea.
No sound was heard of clashing wars,
Peace brooded o’er the hushed domain;
Apollo, Pallas, Jove and Mars,
Held undisturbed their ancient reign,
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago.

Alfred Domett

It is the Christmas time:
And up and down ‘twixt heaven and earth,
In glorious grief and solemn mirth,
The shining angels climb.

Dinah Maria Mulock

I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!

Carolyn Wells

‘Tis blessed to bestow, and yet,
Could we bestow the gifts we get,
And keep the ones we give away,
How happy were our Christmas day!

Carolyn Wells

The earth has grown old with its burden of care,
But at Christmas it is always young;
The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair,
And its soul, full of music, breaks forth on the air
When the song of the angels is sung.
It is coming, Old Earth, it is coming tonight!
On the snowflakes which cover thy sod
The feet of the Christ-child fall gentle and white,
And the voice of the Christ-child tells out with delight
That mankind are the children of God.

Phillips Brooks

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farmhouse at the garden’s end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier’s feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let Christmas not become a thing
Merely of merchant’s trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for soul and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come
From a Dreamer’s martyrdom.

Madeline Morse

Christmas Holidays

Along the Woodford road there comes a noise
Of wheels, and Mr. Rounding’s neat post-chaise
Struggles along, drawn by a pair of bays,
With Reverend Mr. Crow and six small boys,
Who ever and anon declare their joys
With trumping horns and juvenile huzzas,
At going home to spend their Christmas days,
And changing learning’s pains for pleasure’s toys.
Six weeks elapse, and down the Woodford way
A heavy coach drags six more heavy souls,
But no glad urchins shout, no trumpets bray,
The carriage makes a halt, the gate-bell tolls,
And little boys walk in as dull and mum
As six new scholars to the Deaf and Dumb!

Thomas Hood

A White Christmas

‘Twas the night before christmas.
With a blanket of white.
That covered the earth all through the night.
The trees sparkled like diamonds.
With a glitter so bright.
That each little twinkle made its own christmas light.
A hope and a prayer a white christmas would be.
Awaiting the dawn so all could see.
The beauty and joy a white christmas does bring.
To the holiday season as carolers sing.
For twas the night before Christmas.
God answered your prayer.
With a blanket of white.
Placed with God’s loving care.”

Carla Jean Laglia Esely

Christmas At The Orphanage

But if they’d give us toys and twice the stuff most
parents splurge on the average kid, orphans, I submit, need more than enough;
in fact, stacks wrapped with our names nearly hid
the tree: these sparkling allotments yearly
guaranteed a lack of – what? – family? –

I knew exactly what it was I missed as we were lined up number rank and file:
to share my pals’ tearing open their piles
meant sealing the self, the child that wanted
to scream at all You stole those gifts from me;
whose birthday is worth such words? The wish-lists
they’d made us write out in May lay granted
against starred branches. I said I’m sorry.

Bill Knott

Christmas Past

Oh happy days, the snow fell over-night,
we have a white Christmas in our sight.
Only a few more days and nights,
Christmas will shine bright of white.

Remember those beautiful Christmas Eves,
when we gathered round our colorful trees.
Remember when we caroled down the street,
sang Christmas songs oh so sweet.

Memories are precious let’s not forget,
don’t do anything you might regret.
Christmas is the time of year to share,
to treasure family far and near.

This Christmas with the lights shining bright,
reflecting God’s blanket of white.
Sing sweet songs in memory,
past Christmas’s history.

Melvina Germain

Read also our other posts on Christmas  ;

Christmas quotes ;

Best Christmas songs ;

60 great Christmas quotes ;

Christmas tree origin and quotes ; 

Traditional Christmas Carols ;

Christmas markets in England ;

Christmas markets in America ;

Christmas jokes ;

Christmas cracker jokes ;

Christmas food ;

Christmas thoughts ;

Christmas story ;

Christmas in Italy ;

Christmas holidays ;

Christmas songs ;

Christmas poems ;

An Essasy on Christmas by Chesterton ;

Quotes by authors

Quotes by arguments

Thoughts and reflections

Essays with quotes

Entertainment

News and events

The Christmas Tree, an article that explains its legend, origin and tradition, with some enlightening merry quotes to enrich the great value of the Christmas period.

Snowflakes felt so awesome in winter season. There is a main figure in Christmas known as Santa Claus. And the main theme of Christmas is jingle bell, a very famous tune known all other the world. People use this tune a lot all over the Christmas event, and it feels so good like something very positive that will bring peace and happiness in our lives.

Moving between the legs of tables and of chairs, rising or falling, grasping at kisses and toys, advancing boldly, sudden to take alarm, retreating to the corner of arm and knee, eager to be reassured, taking pleasure in the fragrant brilliance of the Christmas tree.
T. S. Eliot

It is curious to what a degree one may become attached to a fine tree, especially when it is placed where trees are rare.
Christian Nestell Bovee

The Christmas tree is the dot on the i.
Frank Taylor

The trees that bud and blossom forth, Throughout the world from south to north, Are tokens that a life will bloom When manhood’s passed beyond the tomb.
T. Augustus Forbes Leith

Three things are needed to make a Christmas tree: ornaments, the tree and faith in the future.
Armenian proverb

I stone got crazy when I saw somebody run down them strings with a bottleneck. My eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and I said that I had to learn.
Muddy Waters

My beer-drenched soul is sadder than all the dead Christmas trees in the world.
Charles Bukowski

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.
Roy L. Smith

It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters, it’s who’s around it.
Charlie Brown

A Christian should resemble a fruit tree with real fruit, not a Christmas tree with decorations tied on.
John Stott

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
Burton Hillis

I grew up with a Christmas tree, I’m going to stay with a Christmas tree.
Thomas Menino

The perfect Christmas tree, all Christmas trees are perfect.
Charles N. Barnard

Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago.
Tom Baker

The Christmas tree is beautiful only when it is finished and when the lights can be turned on, the crib is not, the crib is beautiful when you do it or even when you think about it.
Luciano De Crescenzo

Taking down the Christmas tree makes it feel official: time to get back to joyless and cynical.
Greg Fitzsimmons

I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.
Linus Van Pelt

What will we find under the Christmas tree this year? Oh my God, I think the roots!
Carl William Brown

Glittering tinsel, lights, glass balls, and candy canes dangle from pine trees.
Richelle E. Goodrich

The best Christmas trees come very close to exceeding nature.
Andy Rooney

There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer.
Calvin Coolidge

The earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine.
James Irwin

Christmas tree stands are the work of the devil and they want you dead.
Bill Bryson

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.
Eckhart Tolle

He that planteth a tree is the servant of God, He provideth a kindness for many generations, And faces that he hath not seen shall bless him.
Henry Van Dyke

Now I’m an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions.
Orson Welles

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 25 feet tall.
Larry Wilde

They’ve got plastic Christmas trees now. They’re hard to tell from the real aluminum ones.
Milton Berle

I was only kicking down the Christmas tree to get the star on top.
Ray Bradbury

I don’t know what I believe. I guess that makes me a christmas tree agnostic.
Stephanie Perkins

Only look what is still on the ugly old Christmas tree!” said he, trampling on the branches, so that they all cracked beneath his feet. And the Tree beheld all the beauty of the flowers, and the freshness in the garden; he beheld himself, and wished he had remained in his dark corner in the loft; he thought of his first youth in the woods, of the merry Christmas Eve, and of the little Mice who had listened with so much pleasure to the story of Klumpy-Dumpy.
Hans Christian Andersen

A Christmas tree, the perfect gift for a guy. The plant is already dead.
Jay Leno

The Christmas tree, twinkling with lights, had a mountain of gifts piled up beneath it, like offerings to the great god of excess.
Tess Gerritsen

A dog looking at a lit Christmas tree thinks: they finally put the light in the toilet.
Romano Bertola

Christmas trees don’t grow on trees; they need rainbows, lumberjacks, and Leprechauns on unicorns playing jock jams on glockenspiels.
Ryan Ross

Make your plate look like a Christmas tree, I tell people, mostly green with splashes of other bright colors.
Victoria Moran

There’s no experience quite like cutting your own live Christmas tree out of your neighbor’s yard.
Dan Florence

The smell of pine needles, spruce and the smell of a Christmas tree, those to me, are the scents of the holidays.
Blake Lively

Christmas is a very enjoyable event ever. It is a great feast for everyone. Kids, adults and grandparents. Everyone enjoy this occasion very much. Parents give presents to their children and this brings happiness in their hearts. An enormous amount of joy comes through this period which is a real gem for us. Therefore how could we avoid talking of one of the main symbol of this religious celebration, which is certainly the Christmas Tree, so let’s read about its fascinating history.

The Christmas tree today is a common custom to most of us. There are many interesting connections to ancient traditions such as Egyptian and Roman customs, early Christian practices, and Victorian nostalgia. However, most scholars point to Germany as being the origin of the Christmas tree.

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes, which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon, farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

One of the earliest stories relating back to Germany is about Saint Boniface. In 722, he encountered some pagans who were about to sacrifice a child at the base of a huge oak tree. He cut down the tree to prevent the sacrifice and a Fir tree grew up at the base of the oak. He then told everyone that this lovely evergreen, with its branches pointing to heaven, was a holy tree – the tree of the Christ child, and a symbol of His promise of eternal life.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. Another story tells that perhaps it was Martin Luther responsible for the origin of the Christmas tree.

This story says that one Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through the snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of the snow glistened trees. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moon light. When he got home, he set up a small fir tree and shared the story with his children. He decorated the Christmas tree with small candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ’s birth.

Another legend says that in the early 16th century, people in Germany combined two customs that had been practiced in different countries around the globe. The Paradise tree (a fir tree decorated with apples) represented the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

The Christmas Light, a small, pyramid-like frame, usually decorated with glass balls, tinsel and a candle on top, was a symbol of the birth of Christ as the Light of the World. Changing the tree’s apples to tinsel balls and cookies and combining this new tree with the light placed on top, the Germans created the tree that many of us know today.

In the 1840s and 50s, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularized the Christmas tree in England. Prince Albert decorated a tree and ever since that time, the English, because of their love for their Queen, copied her Christmas customs including the Christmas tree and ornaments. An engraving of the Royal Family celebrating Christmas at Windsor was published in 1848 and their German traditions were copied and adapted.

Another story about the origin of the Christmas tree says that late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope that spring would soon come.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims’s second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out “pagan mockery” of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against “the heathen traditions” of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated “that sacred event.” In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Research into customs of various cultures shows that greenery was often brought into homes at the time of the winter solstice. It symbolized life in the midst of death in many cultures. The Romans were known to deck their homes with evergreens during of Kalends of January 15. Living trees were also brought into homes during the old Germany feast of Yule, which originally was a two month feast beginning in November. The Yule tree was planted in a tub and brought into the home. But there is no evidence that the Christmas tree is a direct descendent of the Yule tree.

Evidence does point to the Paradise tree however. This story goes back to the 11th century religious plays. One of the most popular was the Paradise Play. The play depicted the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin, and their banishment from Paradise. The only prop on the stage was the Paradise tree, a fir tree adorned with apples. The play would end with the promise of the coming Savior and His Incarnation. The people had grown so accustomed to the Paradise tree, that they began putting their own Paradise tree up in their homes on December 24.

Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850. In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament. This was done in honor of the American hostages in Iran. The tallest living Christmas tree is believed to be the 122-foot, 91-year-old Douglas fir in the town of Woodinville, Washington. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition began in 1933. Franklin Pierce, the 14th president, brought the Christmas tree tradition to the White House. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony now held every year on the White House lawn.

Since 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has given a Christmas tree to the President and first family. Most Christmas trees are cut weeks before they get to a retail outlet. In 1912, the first community Christmas tree in the United States was erected in New York City. Christmas trees generally take six to eight years to mature. Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska. 90 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms. More than 1,000,000 acres of land have been planted with Christmas trees. On average, over 2,000 Christmas trees are planted per acre.

You should never burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace. It can contribute to creosote buildup. Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past. Thomas Edison’s assistants came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees. In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lit until December 22nd because of a national 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy. Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons. On the contrary the 2020 Christmas Tree is an 18 ½ foot Fraser Fir from West Virginia. It will serve as a centerpiece for Christmas decorations in the Blue Room of the White House. The White House Christmas Tree must stand 18-19 feet tall and reach the ceiling of the Blue Room, where the chandelier is removed each holiday season to accommodate the tree.

And last but not least, if you want to choose the perfect Christmas tree visit the website of The American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA) which is a non-profit organization established to help families create holiday memories and build traditions by choosing the perfect Christmas tree. www.christmastreeassociation.org/

Instead if you need a good short story for your children about Christmas or the Christmas tree, you can find many of them at this link:
https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen/short-story/the-fir-tree

Top 10 Tallest Christmas Trees in The World

Read also our other posts on Christmas  ;

Christmas quotes ;

60 great Christmas quotes ;

Christmas tree origin and quotes ; 

Traditional Christmas Carols ;

Christmas jokes ;

Christmas markets in England ;

Christmas cracker jokes ;

Christmas food ;

Christmas thoughts ;

Christmas story ;

Christmas in Italy ;

Christmas holidays ;

Christmas songs ;

Christmas poems ;

An Essay on Christmas by Chesterton ;

Quotes by authors

Quotes by arguments

Thoughts and reflections

Essays with quotes

Entertainment

News and events

Christmas songs best ever written and sung with an article, a list and some videos from Youtube. Enjoy and be merry at least for Christmas.

There are a lot of popular and famous everlasting Christmas songs, and at this time of the year you always listen to them with joy and a cheerful state of mind. Take for instance “Silent Night” (German: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) which is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria and it was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The song has been recorded by a large number of singers from every music genre. The version sung by Bing Crosby is the third best-selling single of all-time.

The song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. He had written the lyrics of the song “Stille Nacht” in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as a co-adjutor. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the Christmas Eve mass. Together they performed the new carol during the mass on the night of 24 December.

“Silent Night Holy Night All is calm All is bright Round yon virgin Mother and child Holy infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Silent Night Holy Night”

Originally “Christmas carols” referred to a piece of vocal music in carol form whose lyrics were based on the theme of Christmas or the Christmas season. Many traditional Christmas carols focus on the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus, while others celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas that range from the 25 December to 5 January. As a result, many Christmas Carols can be related to St Stephen’s Day (26 December), St John’s Day (27 December), Feast of Holy Innocents (28 December), St Sylvester’s Day (31st December), and the Epiphany. Examples of this are We Three Kings (an Epiphany song), and Good King Wenceslas (a carol for St. Stephen’s Day).

Nonetheless, some Christmas Carols, both religious and secular, now regarded as Christmas songs have become associated with the Christmas season even though the lyrics may not specifically refer to Christmas – for example, Deck the Halls (a pagan Yuletide drinking song) and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (an Advent chant). Other Christmas songs focus on more secular Christmas themes, such as winter scenes, family gatherings, and Santa Claus (Jingle Bells, O Christmas Tree, Home for the Holidays, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, etc.).

Among carols one of the best is for sure “Carol of the Bells” which is a popular Christmas carol composed by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914 with lyrics by Peter J. Wilhousky. The song is based on a Ukrainian folk chant called “Shchedryk”. Wilhousky’s lyrics are copyrighted, although the original musical composition is not. The song is recognized by a four-note ostinato motif. It has been arranged many times for different genres, styles of singing and settings and has been covered by artists and groups of many genres: classical, metal, jazz, country music, rock, and pop. The piece has also been featured in films, television shows, and parodies.

But in more recent times a lot of new songs were born and they absolutely deserve to be remembered and sung, so you can find the most famous of them listed below. As far as I am concerned the one I prefer is – All I Want for Christmas Is You – by Mariah Carey because it is very moving, poetical and exciting and what’s more expresses one of our inner deepest emotional desire.

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas There’s just one thing I need I don’t care about presents Underneath the Christmas tree I just want you for my own More than you could ever know Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you.”

Another very nice and amusing Christmas song that is also a rock one is certainly “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours. The song has been recorded by over 200 artists, including The Crystals, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra and The Jackson 5.

“You better watch out You better not cry Better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He’s making a list And checking it twice; Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice Santa Claus is coming to town”

Here is now a list of fifty very famous Christmas Songs:

1) “Fairytale of New York” – The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl

2) “All I Want For Christmas Is You” – Mariah Carey

3) “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – Band Aid

4) “Last Christmas” – Wham!

5) “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” – Michael Bublé

6) “Do You Hear What I Hear?” – Bing Crosby

7) “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” – John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir

8) “Wonderful Christmastime” – Paul McCartney

9) “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” – Wizzard

10) “Merry Xmas Everybody” – Slade

11) “Merry Christmas Everyone” – Shakin’ Stevens

12) “Sleigh Ride” – Leroy Anderson

13) “Stay Another Day” – East 17

14)”Driving Home For Christmas” – Chris Rea

15) “Rockin Around The Christmas Tree” – Brenda Lee

16) “Step Into Christmas” – Elton John

17) “2000 Miles” – The Pretenders

18) “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter” – Connie Francis / Gabriella Cilmi

19) “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” – Darlene Love

20) “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” – Vaughn Monroe/Dean Martin/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Our Playlist of best Christmas songs

21) “Stop The Calvary” – Jona Lewie

22) “Frosty The Snowman” – Gene Autry & The Cass Country Boys/Perry Como /Johnny Mathis /Kimberley Locke

23) “White Christmas” – Bing Crosby

24) “I Believe In Father Christmas” – Greg Lake/Toyah Wilcox/Elaine Paige

25) “Christmas Lights” – Coldplay

26) “Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” – The Nat King Cole Trio

27) “Thank God It’s Christmas” – Queen

28) “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of Year” – Andy Williams

29) “Santa Baby” – Eartha Kitt

30) “Christmas Wrapping” – The Waitresses

31) “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – Frank Sinatra

32) “Please Come Home For Christmas” – Charles Brown, The Eagles, Jon Bon Jovi

33) “Spaceman Came Travelling” – Chris de Burgh

34) “A Winter’s Tale” – David Essex

35) “Lonely This Christmas” – MUD

36) “Cold December Night” – Michael Bublé

37) “Mistletoe And Wine” – Cliff Richard

38) “Merry Christmas” – Bryan Adams

39) “Christmas Time” – Don’t Let The Bells End, The Darkness

40) “Mary’s Boy Child” – Oh My Lord, Boney M

41) “Power Of Love” – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

42) “Blue Christmas” – Elvis Presley

43) “When A Child Is Born (Soleado)” – Johnny Mathis

44) “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” – Gene Autry

45) “Winter Wonderland” – Perry Como

46) “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – Jimmy Boyd

47) “Mary’s Boy Child” – Harry Belafonte

48) “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” – Perry Como & The Fontana Sisters

49) “The Little Drummer Boy” – Harry Simeone Chorale

50) “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” -16th century carol

51) “Happy New Year” – Abba

52) “New Year’s Day” – U2

53) “New Year’s Day” – Taylor Swift

You can also have a look at the Best Christmas Songs with videos, lyrics, famous quotes and carols to enjoy the atmosphere of this magic festival and to practice the English language having great fun.

Read also our other posts on Christmas  ;

Christmas best songs (Karaoke) ;

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60 great Christmas quotes ;

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Traditional Christmas Carols ;

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Christmas in Italy ;

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An Essasy on Christmas by Chesterton ;

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Halloween. In Praise of Light and Shadow. A short article that explores Halloween’s spiritual and didactic significance, tracing its roots in ancient rituals, its reflections in global traditions, and its lessons for both children and adults. 

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.
Edgar Allan Poe

And it is the thought of death that ultimately helps us to go on living.
Umberto Saba

There must be a light that never goes out, try to keep it alive.
Carl William Brown

I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light.
Helen Keller

What the dead had no speech for, when living, They can tell you, being dead: the communication Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

My mother gave me life and when she died she also took it away, so spirits and memories are the only things left.
Carl William Brown

There is magic in the night when pumpkins glow by moonlight.
Anonymous

Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days.
Author Unknown

We are born from the star dust, and there we have to come back, under some nice carpets, to enjoy some cheerful Halloween parties!
Carl William Brown

On Halloween, kids get to assume, for one night the outward forms of their innermost dread, and they’re also allowed to take candy from strangers – the scariest thing of all.
Kate Christensen

I’m not a real Halloween kind of guy, because Halloween is every day.
Al Jourgensen

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpots

Halloween is often seen as a masquerade of ghosts and laughter, a carnival of fright and play, a night of costumes, candy, and playful fright. Yet beneath the masks and decorations lies a profound tradition: a human meditation on the mystery of death and an attempt to confront mortality, honor ancestors, and celebrate the fragile beauty of life.

This short article explores Halloween’s spiritual and didactic significance, tracing its roots in ancient rituals, its reflections in global traditions, and its lessons for both children and adults. It is the child of Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the moment when the veil between worlds grows thin.

On this night, the living met the dead halfway: bonfires flared to guide the spirits home, offerings were left for ancestors, and masks were worn to confuse wandering souls. What survives today – the costumes, the candles, the thrill of darkness – is but the echo of that old courage: humanity’s attempt to face the unknown without surrendering to it.

Children are naturally curious about death, and fear arises where knowledge falters. Halloween offers a gentle lesson – it allows us to speak of mortality in the language of play. In disguising ourselves, we reveal something essential: that fear, when acknowledged, loses its tyranny. “He who learns must suffer,” wrote Aeschylus, and even the smallest child, behind a witch’s hat or a paper mask, learns that lesson in miniature.

By blending the playfulness of Halloween with the reverence of Día de los Muertos or Samhain’s ancient rites, we restore to the festival a sense of balance – a joy that does not deny the sacred, a laughter that remembers the dead. When children learn to see death not as a monster in the dark, but as part of the natural rhythm of being, they begin to understand life more deeply.

Autumn itself teaches the same lesson. The shortening days, the falling leaves, the fading light – all whisper the same truth: darkness and death are coming. Yet they also urge us to live while we can, to harvest joy before winter arrives. Ancient harvest festivals and modern Halloweens alike remind us that joy and fear can coexist -that there is freedom in facing what we most resist.

The air cools, the light withdraws, the trees shed their brilliant disguises. Nature rehearses her own death with beauty and calm. Every falling leaf is a whisper: live while you can, for nothing lasts. The ancients read this truth in the stars – when the Pleiades rose high in the night sky, the Celts knew it was time for Samhain, for endings and remembrance. Across the world, the same constellations guided the Andean, African, and Asian peoples toward ceremonies of gratitude and mourning. The heavens themselves seem to instruct us: Darkness comes, but it is not the end.

Even the frightening imagery of Halloween – ghosts, skeletons, shadows – serves a sacred role. By confronting the unknown through ritual and play, we reclaim a sense of control over what would otherwise terrify us. As our ancestors once used fire to push back the night, we use costume, story, and laughter to keep fear in its rightful place.

Across cultures, autumn is the season of candles. The Hindu Diwali, the Japanese Tsukimi, the Chinese Ghost Festival, and All Souls’ Day – all celebrate a spark of light within the growing dark. Whether it flickers inside a jack-o’-lantern or before an altar, that same flame speaks of endurance. “There is a crack in everything,” Leonard Cohen wrote, “that’s how the light gets in.”

Lighting a candle, whether in a pumpkin, a temple, or a chapel, remains our oldest gesture of defiance and hope – a small miracle of day within night. It is this simple flame, echoing from our prehistoric ancestors to our modern porches, that captures Halloween’s enduring message. The candle remains one of our oldest miracles: a little day made in the night, a symbol that fear can be transfigured into meaning.

Halloween endures because it gives form to the formless. It transforms dread into ritual, terror into laughter, absence into memory. Beneath the masks and music, it asks the oldest question: What does it mean to live, knowing we must die? The answer is not despair, but awareness. To honor the dead is to affirm life. To walk through darkness with a lighted candle is to proclaim that meaning is still possible. Halloween, in its truest form, is not a flight from fear – it is an initiation into wisdom.

And so we walk, each autumn, between the living and the dead, between laughter and silence, between the spark and the shadow. Halloween reminds us that the mystery of death is not to be solved, but to be shared – and that in facing it, we learn to love the fragile brilliance of being alive. Every candle lit, every costume donned, and every shadow glimpsed is a reminder of our shared humanity.

Halloween, in its most profound sense, is a festival of awareness: a lesson in courage, creativity, and gratitude. By confronting darkness, honoring ancestors, and celebrating life, we illuminate the meaning of our own fleeting existence. In the interplay of light and shadow, fear and joy, we discover the most enduring lesson of all: to live fully, even as the night approaches.

To celebrate Halloween is to acknowledge the tension at the heart of existence: our “bright, sharp aliveness” set against our inevitable end. It invites us to face what we fear, honor what came before us, and live more vividly in the present. By confronting death through ritual, we become more fully human – and perhaps, more at peace. So light the candle. Laugh at the darkness. Honor those who came before. Halloween, in its truest form, teaches not how to fear death, but how to live with wisdom and gratitude beneath the turning star.

Download the pdf file about Halloween History

If you like Halloween you can also read the following articles:

Halloween great and famous quotes

Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve

Halloween quotes and aphorisms

Halloween death poems

Halloween thoughts and poems

Quotes by authors

Quotes by arguments

Thoughts and reflections

Essays with quotes

Halloween great quotes and aphorisms, 50 famous and amazing ideas for your pleasure by the World of English or English-culture.com blog

Halloween for the year 2025 is celebrated/observed on Friday, October 31st and remember that the most really scaring thing about Halloween is certainly running out of candy.

What the dead had no speech for, when living, They can tell you, being dead: the communication Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness – for then The spirits of the dead, who stood In life before thee, are again In death around thee, and their will Shall overshadow thee; be still.
Edgar Allan Poe

My mother gave me life and when she died she also took it away, so spirits and memories are the only things left.
Carl William Brown

Halloween is bigger than Christmas in America. I’ve experienced it in New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., and if you’re in the right neighbourhood, every house is decorated with spooky ghosts, spider webs, and jack-o-lanterns.
Rhys Darby

If human beings had genuine courage, they’d wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.
Doug Coupland

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
H P Lovecraft

Be wary then; best safety lies in fear.
William Shakespeare

Treats and tricks. Witch broomsticks. Jack-o-lanterns Lick their lips. Crows and cats. Vampire bats. Capes and fangs And pointed hats. Werewolves howl. Phantoms prowl. Halloween’s Upon us now.
Richelle E. Goodrich

It’s Halloween, The night we all play, Trick or treat, We won’t go away. Be we ghoul or goblin, ghost, We’ll knock on your door, To see who scares you the most.
Anthony T.Hincks

Halloween shadows played upon the walls of the houses. In the sky the Halloween moon raced in and out of the clouds. The Halloween wind was blowing, not a blasting of wind but a right-sized swelling, falling, and gushing of wind. It was a lovely and exciting night, exactly the kind of night Halloween should be.”
Eleanor Estes

The jack-o-lantern follows me with tapered, glowing eyes. His yellow teeth grin evily. His cackle I despise. But I shall have the final laugh when Halloween is through. This pumpkin king I’ll split in half to make a pie for two.”
Richelle E. Goodrich

There is magic in the night when pumpkins glow by moonlight.
Anonymous

On ol’ Halloween Night These monsters join the living If they had it their way They’d stay until Thanksgiving.
Casey Browning

Halloween wraps fear in innocence, As though it were a slightly sour sweet. Let terror, then, be turned into a treat…
Nicholas Gordon

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about but few have seen.
Author Unknown

They that are born on Halloween shall see more than other folk.
Saying of unknown origin

The only thing that really scares me about Halloween is running out of candy.
Melanie White

There’s a little witch in all of us.
Alice Hoffman

Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days.
Author Unknown

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen. Voices whisper in the trees, “Tonight is Halloween!”
Dexter Kozen

On Hallows Eve, we witches meet to broil and bubble tasty treats like goblin thumbs with venom dip, crisp bat wings, and fried fingertips.
Richelle E. Goodrich

Halloween wraps fear in innocence, as though it were a slightly sour sweet let terror then be turned into a treat.
Nicholas Gordon

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Christmas and the others can end up making you sad, because you know you should be happy. But on Halloween you get to become anything that you want to be”
Ava Dellaira

Halloween is fun, but it wasn’t always my favorite holiday. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Tobin Bell

Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world.
William Shakespeare

When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween.
Author Unknown

We are born from the star dust, and there we have to come back, under some nice carpets, to enjoy some cheerful Halloween parties!
Carl William Brown

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Fear has many eyes and can see things underground.
Miguel de Cervantes

There is nothing that gives more assurance than a mask.
Colette

Halloween isn’t the only time for ghosts and ghost stories. In Victorian Britain, spooky winter’s tales were part of the Christmas season, often told after dinner, over port or coffee.
Michael Dirda

Every Halloween for six years, I was a Ninja Turtle, and Mikey was my favorite. The turtles really made me who I am today. They got me into martial arts, meditation, surfing, skateboarding; big time influence on who I am today.
Greg Cipes

I don’t know that there are real ghosts and goblins, but there are always more trick-or-treater than neighborhood kids.
Robert Brault

If ever there was a holiday that deserves to be commercialized, it’s Halloween. We haven’t taken it away from kids. We’ve just expanded it so that the kid in adults can enjoy it, too.
Cassandra Peterson

Where there is no imagination there is no horror.
Arthur Conan Doyle

People value Halloween, like Valentine’s Day, because they can tell themselves that it’s not merely secularized but actually secular, which is to say, not Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim.
Amity Shlaes

This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him.
Conan O’Brien

On Halloween, kids get to assume, for one night the outward forms of their innermost dread, and they’re also allowed to take candy from strangers – the scariest thing of all.
Kate Christensen

Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn’t even the star of his own Halloween special.
Chris Rock

Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold.
Judith Olney

Proof of our society’s decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many.
Robert Kirby

Proof of our society’s decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many.
Robert KirbyWhen black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam, May luck be yours on Halloween.
Author Unknown

When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam, May luck be yours on Halloween.
Author Unknown

It’s said that All Hallows’ Eve is one of the nights when the veil between the worlds is thin – and whether you believe in such things or not, those roaming spirits probably believe in you, or at least acknowledge your existence, considering that it used to be their own. Even the air feels different on Halloween, autumn-crisp and bright.
Erin Morgenstern

Halloween starts earlier and earlier, just like Christmas.
Robert Englund

I see my face in the mirror and go, ‘I’m a Halloween costume? That’s what they think of me?’
Drew Carey

There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world.
Jean Baudrillard

In Britain, the major public holiday used to be Guy Fawkes Day… that was celebrated on November 5th with things like bonfires and fireworks… I think that made Halloween seem preferable. The idea of having pumpkins and costumes and parties seemed much more appealing than burning down your neighborhood.
Lisa Morton

In our town, Halloween was terrifying and thrilling, and there was a whiff of homicide. We’d travel by foot in the dark for miles, collecting candy, watching out for adults who seemed too eager to give us treats.
Rosecrans Baldwin

On Halloween, don’t you know back when you were little, your mom tells you don’t eat any candy until she checks it? I used to be so tempted to eat my candy on the way to other people’s houses. That used to be such a tease.
Derrick Rose

I’m not a real Halloween kind of guy, because Halloween is every day.
Al Jourgensen

For about 30 years, Halloween was taken over by pranksters. By the ’30s, pranks were causing cities millions of dollars of damage. They considered banning Halloween in many cities, but instead, parents got together and came up with party ideas for kids, and a lot of them involved dressing up and costuming.
Lisa Morton

There haven’t been organized protests, but I have heard of protests where people have wanted to celebrate Halloween.
Lisa Morton

You look at Cheney, Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, and Bush – if you saw them on Halloween, they wouldn’t need a costume. You’d give them a treat and compliment them on what great-looking demons they were. They are demons. There’s no doubt about it.
Tommy Chong

I live in New Orleans part of the year, and it’s a really fun eating town. I bought two homes there, one to live in and one as an investment. They love to eat, drink and dress up in costumes. There are so many reasons to dress up – Mardi Gras, Halloween, Southern Decadence.
Jennifer Coolidge

I hear from many a man around Halloween that’s dressed up as Mama for Halloween. It’s a great costume.
Vicki Lawrence

I’m a really big fan of all things macabre in general; Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday.
Dove Cameron

I love Halloween, trick or treating and decorating the house. And I love Thanksgiving, because of the football and the fall weather. And of course, I love Christmas – that’s my favorite of all!
Joe Nichols

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.
Mason Cooley

October was always the least dependable of months … full of ghosts and shadows.
Joy Fielding

Men say that in this midnight hour, the disembodied have power.
William Motherwell

I hate Halloween. I hate dressing up. I hate – I wear wigs, makeup, costumes every day. Halloween is like, my least favorite holiday.
Amy Poehler

My favorite scary movie was always ‘Halloween.’ I love that there’s hidden emotion underneath Michael Myers’ psychotic behavior. Plus, he has the best mask, hands-down.
Chris Zylka

I’ve never seen ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, I’ve never seen ‘Halloween’, I’ve never seen any of the ‘Friday the 13ths.’
Lin Shaye

I learned to glitter the pumpkins for Halloween not because I went into it thinking, ‘I’m going to glitter some pumpkins!’ No. I bought all of these big, cold, slimy, disgusting pumpkins and tried to carve them, and it was gross, so I had to find something else to do with them. Glitter was life-changing.
Jen Lancaster

It’s as much fun to scare as to be scared.
Vincent Price

Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve.
Ray Bradbury

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpots

Download the pdf file about Halloween History

If you like Halloween you can also read the following articles:

Halloween great and famous quotes

Halloween. In Praise of Light and Shadow.

Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve

Halloween quotes and aphorisms

Halloween death poems

Halloween thoughts and poems

Quotes by authors

Quotes by arguments

Thoughts and reflections

Essays with quotes

Halloween death poems, dead spirits and departed souls with the passed away essence of our ancestors existing around the living by the World of English that is English-culture.com

Halloween for the year 2025 is celebrated/observed on Friday, October 31st.

What the dead had no speech for, when living, They can tell you, being dead: the communication Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead.
T. S. Eliot

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness – for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

Edgar Allan Poe From “Spirits of the Dead

All Souls’ Night

You heap the logs and try to fill
The little room with words and cheer,
But silent feet are on the hill,
Across the window veiled eyes peer.
The hosts of lovers, young in death,
Go seeking down the world to-night,
Remembering faces, warmth and breath –
And they shall seek till it is light.
Then let the white-flaked logs burn low,
Lest those who drift before the storm
See gladness on our hearth and know
There is no flame can make them warm.

Hortense King Flexner

Petit mort pour rire – Poem by Tristan Corbiere

Va vite, léger peigneur de comètes !
Les herbes au vent seront tes cheveux ;
De ton œil béant jailliront les feux
Follets, prisonniers dans les pauvres têtes…

Les fleurs de tombeau qu’on nomme Amourettes
Foisonneront plein ton rire terreux…
Et les myosotis, ces fleurs d’oubliettes…

Ne fais pas le lourd : cercueils de poètes
Pour les croque-morts sont de simples jeux,
Boîtes à violon qui sonnent le creux…
Ils te croiront mort – Les bourgeois sont bêtes
Va vite, léger peigneur de comètes !

Tristan Corbiere

For Annie

Thank Heaven! the crisis,
The danger, is past,
And the lingering illness
Is over at last –
And the fever called “Living”
Is conquered at last.

Sadly, I know
I am shorn of my strength,
And no muscle I move
As I lie at full length –
But no matter! – I feel
I am better at length.

And I rest so composedly,
Now, in my bed,
That any beholder
Might fancy me dead –
Might start at beholding me,
Thinking me dead.

The moaning and groaning,
The sighing and sobbing,
Are quieted now,
With that horrible throbbing
At heart: – ah, that horrible,
Horrible throbbing!

The sickness – the nausea –
The pitiless pain –
Have ceased, with the fever
That maddened my brain –
With the fever called “Living”
That burned in my brain.

And oh! of all tortures
That torture the worst
Has abated – the terrible
Torture of thirst
For the naphthaline river
Of Passion accurst: –
I have drank of a water
That quenches all thirst: –

Of a water that flows,
With a lullaby sound,
From a spring but a very few
Feet under ground –
From a cavern not very far
Down under ground.

And ah! let it never
Be foolishly said
That my room it is gloomy
And narrow my bed;
For man never slept
In a different bed –
And, to sleep, you must slumber
In just such a bed.

My tantalized spirit
Here blandly reposes,
Forgetting, or never
Regretting, its roses –
Its old agitations
Of myrtles and roses:

For now, while so quietly
Lying, it fancies
A holier odor
About it, of pansies –
A rosemary odor,
Commingled with pansies –
With rue and the beautiful
Puritan pansies.

And so it lies happily,
Bathing in many
A dream of the truth
And the beauty of Annie –
Drowned in a bath
Of the tresses of Annie.

She tenderly kissed me,
She fondly caressed,
And then I fell gently
To sleep on her breast –
Deeply to sleep
From the heaven of her breast.

When the light was extinguished,
She covered me warm,
And she prayed to the angels
To keep me from harm –
To the queen of the angels
To shield me from harm.

And I lie so composedly,
Now, in my bed,
(Knowing her love)
That you fancy me dead –
And I rest so contentedly,
Now in my bed
(With her love at my breast).
That you fancy me dead –
That you shudder to look at me,
Thinking me dead:-

But my heart it is brighter
Than all of the many
Stars in the sky,
For it sparkles with Annie –
It glows with the light
Of the love of my Annie –
With the thought of the light
Of the eyes of my Annie.

Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love –
I and my Annabel Lee –
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me –
Yes! – that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we –
Of many far wiser than we –
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling – my darling – my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea –
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe

Halloween

Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta’en,
Beneath the moon’s pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray and rove,
Among the rocks and streams
To sport that night.

Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin’ clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu’ blithe that night.

The lasses feat, and cleanly neat,
Mair braw than when they’re fine;
Their faces blithe, fu’ sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, and warm, and kin’;
The lads sae trig, wi’ wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,
Some unco blate, and some wi’ gabs,
Gar lasses’ hearts gang startin’
Whiles fast at night.

Then, first and foremost, through the kail,
Their stocks maun a’ be sought ance;
They steek their een, and graip and wale,
For muckle anes and straught anes.
Poor hav’rel Will fell aff the drift,
And wander’d through the bow-kail,
And pou’t, for want o’ better shift,
A runt was like a sow-tail,
Sae bow’t that night.

Then, staught or crooked, yird or nane,
They roar and cry a’ throu’ther;
The very wee things, todlin’, rin,
Wi’ stocks out owre their shouther;
And gif the custoc’s sweet or sour.
Wi’ joctelegs they taste them;
Syne cozily, aboon the door,
Wi cannie care, they’ve placed them
To lie that night.

The lasses staw frae ‘mang them a’
To pou their stalks of corn:
But Rab slips out, and jinks about,
Behint the muckle thorn:
He grippet Nelly hard and fast;
Loud skirl’d a’ the lasses;
But her tap-pickle maist was lost,
When kitlin’ in the fause-house
Wi’ him that night.

The auld guidwife’s well-hoordit nits,
Are round and round divided,
And monie lads’ and lasses’ fates
Are there that night decided:
Some kindle coothie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly;
Some start awa, wi’ saucy pride,
And jump out-owre the chimlie
Fu’ high that night.

Jean slips in twa wi’ tentie ee;
Wha ‘twas she wadna tell;
But this is Jock, and this is me,
She says in to hersel:
He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part;
Till, fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e’en a sair heart
To see’t that night.

Poor Willie, wi’ his bow-kail runt,
Was brunt wi’ primsie Mallie;
And Mallie, nae doubt, took the drunt,
To be compared to Willie;
Mall’s nit lap out wi’ pridefu’ fling,
And her ain fit it brunt it;
While Willie lap, and swore by jing,
‘Twas just the way he wanted
To be that night.

Nell had the fause-house in her min’,
She pits hersel and Rob in;
In loving bleeze they sweetly join,
Till white in ase they’re sobbin’;
Nell’s heart was dancin’ at the view,
She whisper’d Rob to leuk for’t:
Rob, stowlins, prie’d her bonny mou’,
Fu’ cozie in the neuk for’t,
Unseen that night.

But Merran sat behint their backs,
Her thoughts on Andrew Bell;
She lea’es them gashin’ at their cracks,
And slips out by hersel:
She through the yard the nearest taks,
And to the kiln goes then,
And darklins graipit for the bauks,
And in the blue-clue throws then,
Right fear’t that night.

And aye she win’t, and aye she swat,
I wat she made nae jaukin’,
Till something held within the pat,
Guid Lord! but she was quakin’!
But whether ‘was the deil himsel,
Or whether ‘twas a bauk-en’,
Or whether it was Andrew Bell,
She didna wait on talkin’
To spier that night.

Wee Jennie to her grannie says,
“Will ye go wi’ me, grannie?
I’ll eat the apple at the glass
I gat frae Uncle Johnnie:”
She fuff’t her pipe wi’ sic a lunt,
In wrath she was sae vap’rin’,
She notice’t na, an aizle brunt
Her braw new worset apron
Out through that night.

“Ye little skelpie-limmer’s face!
I daur you try sic sportin’,
As seek the foul thief ony place,
For him to spae your fortune.
Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!
Great cause ye hae to fear it;
For mony a ane has gotten a fright,
And lived and died deleeret
On sic a night.

“Ae hairst afore the Sherramoor, —
I mind’t as weel’s yestreen,
I was a gilpey then, I’m sure
I wasna past fifteen;
The simmer had been cauld and wat,
And stuff was unco green;
And aye a rantin’ kirn we gat,
And just on Halloween
It fell that night.

“Our stibble-rig was Rab M’Graen,
A clever sturdy fallow:
His son gat Eppie Sim wi’ wean,
That lived in Achmacalla:
He gat hemp-seed, I mind it weel,
And he made unco light o’t;
But mony a day was by himsel,
He was sae sairly frighted
That very night.”

Then up gat fechtin’ Jamie Fleck,
And he swore by his conscience,
That he could saw hemp-seed a peck;
For it was a’ but nonsense.
The auld guidman raught down the pock,
And out a hanfu’ gied him;
Syne bade him slip frae ‘mang the folk,
Some time when nae ane see’d him,
And try’t that night.

He marches through amang the stacks,
Though he was something sturtin;
The graip he for a harrow taks.
And haurls it at his curpin;
And every now and then he says,
“Hemp-seed, I saw thee,
And her that is to be my lass,
Come after me, and draw thee
As fast this night.”

He whistled up Lord Lennox’ march
To keep his courage cheery;
Although his hair began to arch,
He was say fley’d and eerie:
Till presently he hears a squeak,
And then a grane and gruntle;
He by his shouther gae a keek,
And tumbled wi’ a wintle
Out-owre that night.

He roar’d a horrid murder-shout,
In dreadfu’ desperation!
And young and auld came runnin’ out
To hear the sad narration;
He swore ‘twas hilchin Jean M’Craw,
Or crouchie Merran Humphie,
Till, stop! she trotted through them
And wha was it but grumphie
Asteer that night!

Meg fain wad to the barn hae gaen,
To win three wechts o’ naething;
But for to meet the deil her lane,
She pat but little faith in:
She gies the herd a pickle nits,
And two red-cheekit apples,
To watch, while for the barn she sets,
In hopes to see Tam Kipples
That very nicht.

She turns the key wi cannie thraw,
And owre the threshold ventures;
But first on Sawnie gies a ca’
Syne bauldly in she enters:
A ratton rattled up the wa’,
And she cried, Lord, preserve her!
And ran through midden-hole and a’,
And pray’d wi’ zeal and fervour,
Fu’ fast that night;

They hoy’t out Will wi’ sair advice;
They hecht him some fine braw ane;
It chanced the stack he faddom’d thrice
Was timmer-propt for thrawin’;
He taks a swirlie, auld moss-oak,
For some black grousome carlin;
And loot a winze, and drew a stroke,
Till skin in blypes cam haurlin’
Aff’s nieves that night.

A wanton widow Leezie was,
As canty as a kittlin;
But, och! that night amang the shaws,
She got a fearfu’ settlin’!
She through the whins, and by the cairn,
And owre the hill gaed scrievin,
Whare three lairds’ lands met at a burn
To dip her left sark-sleeve in,
Was bent that night.

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
As through the glen it wimpl’t;
Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;
Whyles in a wiel it dimpl’t;
Whyles glitter’d to the nightly rays,
Wi’ bickering, dancing dazzle;
Whyles cookit underneath the braes,
Below the spreading hazel,
Unseen that night.

Among the brackens, on the brae,
Between her and the moon,
The deil, or else an outler quey,
Gat up and gae a croon:
Poor Leezie’s heart maist lap the hool!
Near lav’rock-height she jumpit;
but mist a fit, and in the pool
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,
Wi’ a plunge that night.

In order, on the clean hearth-stane,
The luggies three are ranged,
And every time great care is ta’en’,
To see them duly changed:
Auld Uncle John, wha wedlock joys
Sin’ Mar’s year did desire,
Because he gat the toom dish thrice,
He heaved them on the fire
In wrath that night.

Wi’ merry sangs, and friendly cracks,
I wat they didna weary;
And unco tales, and funny jokes,
Their sports were cheap and cheery;
Till butter’d so’ns, wi’ fragrant lunt,
Set a’ their gabs a-steerin’;
Syne, wi’ a social glass o’ strunt,
They parted aff careerin’
Fu’ blythe that night.

Robert Burns, 1759 – 1796

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Other poems on Halloween Here   www.poets.org/poetsorg/halloween-poems

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