For December · 6poems & readings

Christmas Poems

Snow, light, and the year's warmest season: poems for cards, classrooms, and reading aloud by the tree.

One poem built half of modern Christmas: 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' (1823) — universally known by its first line, ''Twas the night before Christmas' — invented the sleigh-roof landing, named the reindeer, and established the jolly Santa in 56 galloping lines. Around it stands a quieter tradition: Rossetti's 'In the Bleak Midwinter,' Longfellow's bells on Christmas Day, carols that began life as poems.

The season is poetry's busiest: classroom recitals, card verses, and the read-aloud by the tree that becomes a tradition the second year you do it. For cards, four to eight lines is plenty — a stanza of Rossetti for the reflective list, a couplet of original light verse for the merry one.

LengthForm

In the Bleak Midwinter

Christina Rossetti · 1872

1. In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moan,Earth stood hard as iron,

40 lines · lyric

A Visit from St. Nicholas

Clement Clarke Moore · 1823

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

56 lines · narrative

Snow Day

The QuillOak Editors

The radio said two words today,the finest ever spoken —no math, no bus, no spelling quiz,

8 lines · lyric

The Santa Stakeout

The QuillOak Editors

I planned my Santa stakeoutwith cocoa, snacks, and cheer;I practiced staying up past nine

8 lines · lyric

One Window's Glow

The QuillOak Editors

It isn't really wrapping,and it was never snow —it's every mile that's traveled

8 lines · lyric

Christmas Bells

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1863

"I heard the bells on Christmas DayTheir old familiar carols play,And wild and sweet

35 lines · lyric

Common questions

What is the most famous Christmas poem?

'A Visit from St. Nicholas' (1823) — better known as ''Twas the Night Before Christmas' — which invented half of the modern Santa story in 56 lines.

What is a good Christmas poem for cards?

A short stanza of Rossetti's 'In the Bleak Midwinter' for the reflective, or two lines of original light verse for the merry. Cards want four to eight lines, no more.