President Bush ended his speech to the nation last Sunday night by quoting the refrain of what he called, "the Christmas carol, written during the Civil War."
Well, it was the Christmas carol written during the Civil War. But I think that this particular carol should be rendered in full, along with the story behind it.
The carol, which we know by its first line, "I heard the bells on Christmas day", was originally a poem called, "Christmas Bells", written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1864.
The Civil War years were a time of great tragedy for America, and for Longfellow, personally. In 1861, a few months after the shelling of Ft. Sumter, Longfellow's beloved wife, Fanny, was burned to death when her dress caught fire in a freak accident. In his frantic efforts to smother the flames, Longfellow himself was so badly burned that he grew his trademark beard to cover the disfigurement. By a cruel irony, his wife was buried on the anniversary of their wedding.
Partly to assuage his grief, Longfellow resumed his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. He had completed the "Purgatorio" before retiring from his Harvard professorship, and he chose to translate the "Paradiso" before turning to the opening section of the poem, the "Inferno." It was as if he had a premonition that he was not yet out of Hell.
He wasn't. A few weeks before Christmas in 1863, he received word that his oldest son, Charles, who was serving in the Union cavalry, had been gravely wounded. Longfellow's journal, which recorded some very sad reflections on the two Christmases following his wife's death, was a blank page on that third December 25th. He could not bring himself to write a single word.
Yet, a year later, he wrote "Christmas Bells" which, when married to a lovely tune by John Baptiste Calkin in 1872, became a popular carol. It's my own favorite, because it shows how the Star of Bethlehem can shine through even the darkest night of despair.
I offer the text to my readers in honor of the season. It's holiday specific, but I believe that all discerning individuals, whatever their beliefs, will recognize in its words a sentiment that is universal:
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will 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, good will to men."
'Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
(For the melody, access this web site: http://www.always-safe.com/heard.html)
Comments (2)
Hal,
Thanks for posting the poem in its entirety. I looked this up the other day because my local paper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published an editorial critical of President Bush's speech, in which they labeled his use of the quote misleading.
They wrote:
"Even Mr. Bush's quote from the carol 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,' based on a poem written during the Civil War by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was misleading. The song does certainly say, 'The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.' But it was written by a poet who was heartbroken at a maiming wound his oldest son had received in the war."
I'm trying to square their analysis with reality, but the better I understand the context in which the poem was written, the more fitting I believe the president's use of the quote was in the context of his speech. As I read it, Longfellow was saying that despite the darkness of the day -- and the hurt and the suffering and the sacrifice -- right would win out in the end, and a better day would dawn. The Post-Gazette seems to portray Longfellow as bitter and broken, but I read his poem as the words of a man whose heart has begun to mend. I read it and find a man who had once felt abandoned to despair, and who has -- in the bells of Christmas -- found that hope for a brighter day and peace of heart and mind lives once again within him. If that's the case, it seems to align quite well with President Bush's message about the success we're having in Iraq that is often overshadowed by the hurt, the sacrifice and the suffering brought about by war.
Am I misreading the poem or misunderstanding Longfellow's message? Or, is the Post-Gazette spinning the story of the poem's origin to enhance its charge against the president's credibility?
Posted by Shawn Bannon | December 21, 2005 2:57 PM
Posted on December 21, 2005 14:57
Shawn --
I read the poem the same way you did, and the way that President Bush did. As a matter of fact, the poem's "upbeat" conclusion may reflect the fact that when it was written, Lincoln had just been re-elected, and the end of the Civil War was in sight.
And, actually, it was the carol that I quoted in its entirety. The poem, "Christmas Bells" had two additional stanzas that referred specifically to the Civil War ("Then from each black accursed mouth/The cannon thundered from the South...")
These were omitted when the poem was set to music.
By the way, on the first Xmas after 9/11, I sent this poem to everyone on my card list. It seemed appropriate then, and it seems appropriate now.
Posted by Hal Gordon | December 21, 2005 4:47 PM
Posted on December 21, 2005 16:47