Index of Christmas posts | Christmas Nights at Home
Read aloud: Favorite poems
“Welcome, all wonders in one sight!
Eternity shut in a span,
Summer in winter, day in night,
Heaven in earth, and God in man!
Great little One, whose all-embracing birth
Lifts earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to earth.”
Richard Crashaw, “In the Holy Nativity of our Lord”
- Richard Crashaw, “On the Nativity of our Lord” and Crashaw’s other Christmas poems. For example, see “The Shepherds’ Hymn,” Richard Crashaw (Oxford Book of Poetry, p. 312).
- T. S. Eliot: “Journey of the Magi,” and “A Song for Simeon.”
- Luci Shaw, Accompanied by Angels: Poems of the Incarnation. See also her anthology with Madeleine L’Engle, WinterSong.
- Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons. Follow Malcolm’s blog for many poems, with audio. Examples: “A Sonnet for the Annunciation,” Advent Antiphons (collected), “Christmas on the Edge,” “A Quartet for Mary,” “Descent; A Christmas Poem,” “The Holy Innocents,” “Ringing in The Year,” “A Sonnet for Epiphany,” “The First Sunday of Epiphany,” “A Sonnet for Candlemas,” and many more.
- John Milton, Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity
- Jack Prelutsky, It’s Christmas! We also love his It’s Thanksgiving!.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” and “The Three Kings.” - “The Nativity,” G. K. Chesterton
- “Wise Men and Shepherds,” Sidney Godolphin (Oxford Book of Poetry, p. 306).
- “Nativity of Our Lord and Saviour,” Christopher Smart (Oxford Book of Poetry, p. 462).
- “Christmas Trees,” Robert Frost (Complete Poems, p. 132).
Update: See Poetry for Christmas and Easter
