I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY

LONGFELLOW WRITES SOMBER CHRISTMAS DAY POEM

Cambridge, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On Christmas Day in 1863, retired Harvard professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow* wrote a poem to express sorrow upon just learning that his son, Lt. Charles Appleton Longfellow, had been severely wounded at the Battle of New Hope, Virginia in November.  

In 1872, John Baptiste Calkin** set the poem to music and it became one of the best known of our Christmas songs, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

Some of the words are...

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild & sweet the words repeat

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 & mocks the song

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men." 

*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was born in Portland, Maine & educated at Bowdoin College.  His works include "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere", "The Song of Hiawatha", & "Evangeline".

**John Baptiste Calkin (1827-1905) was born in London & became a composer, organist & music teacher at the Guildhall School of Music.

SOURCE

"Christmas Songs and Lore Originating in the Civil War Era," Knoxville Civil War Roundtable handout, December 11, 2018.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Photo by Julia Margaret Cameron (1868)