Browse new releases, best sellers or classics & find your next favourite book. Low prices on millions of books. Free UK delivery on eligible orders
Navigation Links:
Search results
Sep 18, 2024 · Themes: “Christmas” by John Betjeman. The Joyful Anticipation of Christmas: The poem captures the excitement and anticipation of the holiday season. Betjeman describes the preparations, decorations, and festivities that lead up to Christmas Day.
The poem concludes with a reflection on the religious significance of Christmas, contrasting the commercial aspects with the profound truth of Christ's birth. While Betjeman's other works often explore themes of nostalgia and the past, this poem celebrates the present moment and the universal joy of Christmas.
Christmas Lyrics. The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again. And lamp-oil light across the night. Has caught the streaks of winter rain. In many a...
- Summary
- Poetic Techniques
- Analysis of Christmas
The poem begins with the speaker describing the lead-up to Christmas and how everything in a church is decorated for Advent. These images start the poem on a cozy and familiar note. The speaker’s tone is calm and peaceful, he is simply taking in the Christmas imagery. Time progresses, and the speaker moves on to examine the village itself. There ar...
Betjeman makes use of a number of different poetic techniques within ‘Christmas.’ The lines are filled with examples of consonance, assonance, anaphora, alliteration, and more. The repetitionin the poem is one of its most notable features. This can be seen through the use of anaphora, or the use and reuse of a word or phrase at the beginning of mul...
Stanza One
In the first stanza of ‘Christmas’ the speaker begins by describing the setting. He states that it is Advent time, or somewhere in the twenty-four days before Christmas. There is a particular stove in the scene, a “Tortoise stove.” This is not a common household item nowadays but in the mid-1800s into the 1900s it was quite popular. This was due to its ability to burn fuel over a long period of time. It comes to be known in the next lines that the speaker is located within a church. When he l...
Stanza Two
In the second stanza, the speaker describes what is outside the church. There is a great deal of “holly” that he knows that this will soon be used, It runs all the way around the “Manor House” and perhaps as is tradition, they are going to use it to cover as many surfaces in the church as is appropriate.It is the goal of the decorators and those who work in the church that the villagers say that the church looks especially nice on Christmas.
Stanza Three
In the third stanza, the speaker moves into the village. He describes the “Provincial Public Houses” and how they “blaze.” The speaker also shifts to the first person, placing himself in the scene and allowing a more intimate look into the town. At this point, there has been no elaboration on the location of the village. It seems to be a cozy place though, one that any number of people could relate to. When he looks around him he can see “lighted tenements.” He gazes at them and on the “paper...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
Betjeman's poem 'Christmas' discusses the British traditions of Advent and Christmas and makes certain social and religious inquiries. Let's take a look at the full poem now. Betjeman is also known as the man who saved London's St Pancras train station.
Jul 11, 2020 · As I was re-reading the poem ‘Christmas’ yesterday, I was reminded that the name Bethlehem means “House of Bread” in Hebrew (בֵּית לֶחֶם , Bēṯ Leḥem) and “House of Flesh” in Arabic (بيت لحم , Bayt Laḥm ).
People also ask
What is Christmas by John Betjeman about?
What does Betjeman's poem 'Christmas' mean?
What is a good Christmas poem by Sir John Betjeman?
What does the poem 'Christmas' say?
What is the theme of the poem Christmas?
How many lines are in Christmas by John Betjeman?
Dec 9, 2013 · In ‘Christmas’, published in a collection entitled ‘A Few Late Chrysanthemums’ in 1954, John Betjeman openly celebrates the religious as well as the secular significance of the birth of Christ.
