Christmas in the Olden Time, 1650

Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)



At Wycoller Hall the family usually kept open house the twelve days at Christmas. Their entertainment was, a large hall of curious ashler work, a long table, plenty of furmenty like new milk, in a morning, made of husked wheat, boiled and roasted beef, with a fat goose, and a pudding, with plenty of good beer for dinner. A round-about fire-place, surrounded with stone benches, where the young folks sat and cracked nuts, and diverted themselves, and in this manner the sons and daughters got matching without going much from home."— Family MS. of the Cunliffes.

You must come back, my brother,
    For Christmas is so near,
And Christmas is the crowning time,
    The purple of the year;
He calls his court about him,
    He is the fairy king,
Whose revel is at midnight
    Within a charmed ring.
        Christmas is coming, my brother dear,
        And Christmas comes, my brother, but once a year.

The last leaf hath departed
    From off the old oak tree,
But there is the wreath of misletoe
    Where the green leaf used to be.
And we’ll hang up the charmed coronal
    Above the highest door,
And strangers all must pay the fine
    Ere they tread the fairy floor.
        Christmas is coming, my brother dear,
        And Christmas comes, my brother, but once a year.

The trees are white with hoar-frost,
    And snow is on the ground,
But there are yet some roses
    Beside the casement found;
And the terrace yet has myrtle;
    Both shall be saved for you;
And you shall give them, my brother,
    But I must not guess to who!
        Christmas is coming, my brother dear,
        And Christmas comes, my brother, but once a year.

The willow lake is frozen,
    You will have such skaiting there;
And the trees, like lovelorn maidens,
    Hang down their glittering hair.
The holly’s scarlet berries,
    Amid the leaves appear;
It is an elfin armoury,
    With banner and with spear.
        Christmas is coming, my brother dear,
        And Christmas comes, my brother, but once a year.

We shall gather every evening
    Beside the ancient hearth,
But one vacant place beside it,
    Would darken all its mirth.
At any time but Christmas
    We give you leave to roam,
But now come back, my brother,
    You are so missed at home.
        Christmas is coming, my brother dear,
        And Christmas comes, my brother, but once a year.
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on February 24, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:58 min read
15

Quick analysis:

Scheme a bcxcxdedCC xfefghxhCC xiaigjbjCC xkakacbcCC dxxxalblCC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,355
Words 395
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 1, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet. Born 14th August 1802 at 25 Hans Place, Chelsea, she lived through the most productive period of her life nearby, at No.22. A precocious child with a natural gift for poetry, she was driven by the financial needs of her family to become a professional writer and thus a target for malicious gossip (although her three children by William Jerdan were successfully hidden from the public). In 1838, she married George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, whence she travelled, only to die a few months later (15th October) of a fatal heart condition. Behind her post-Romantic style of sentimentality lie preoccupations with art, decay and loss that give her poetry its characteristic intensity and in this vein she attempted to reinterpret some of the great male texts from a woman’s perspective. Her originality rapidly led to her being one of the most read authors of her day and her influence, commencing with Tennyson in England and Poe in America, was long-lasting. However, Victorian attitudes led to her poetry being misrepresented and she became excluded from the canon of English literature, where she belongs. more…

All Letitia Elizabeth Landon poems | Letitia Elizabeth Landon Books

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