Christmas, they say, comes but once a year. In these days it seems to also last for much of that year but this volume is not just for Christmas! For the religious amongst us this annual celebration of the Birth of Christ must seem bitter sweet; it’s acknowledgment by billions of people countered by the pervasive spread of material possessions translating the event to little more than a sales pitch for their own wares. Most religions celebrate their founders but Christianity seems somehow to have lost possession of one of its key rituals in an ever more secular West. The spread of globalisation seems to have hindered rather than helped the true meaning of the festival. Children today are much more interested in what presents they might receive than any spiritual message. As parents too, most of us buy into this and indulge our offspring rather than instil the underlying themes and aims of the festival’s meaning common to us all. In this collection we rely on the words and wisdom of such fine poets as John Milton, Emily Dickinson, Sir Walter Scott, Daniel Sheehan, Wordsworth, Longfellow and a whole host of others to absorb us in a Christmas time of hope and togetherness. The experiences and memories they share with us speak of a time, of a world that did have a common purpose and an ambition to share good fortune with everyone. This selection is read for you by Ghizela Rowe and Tim Graham.
01 - Christmas - An Introroduction
02 - A Nativity By Rudyard Kipling
03 - A Visit From St Nicholas ( (T'Was The Night Before Christmas) By Clement Moore
04 - The Oxen By Thomas Hardy
05 - The Three Kings By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
06 - Christmas Eve By Christina Rossetti
07 - On The Morning Of Christs Nativity By John Milton
08 - The Burning Babe By Robert Southwell
09 - The Nativity Of Our Lord And Saviour Jesus Christ By Christopher Smart
10 - The Mother Of God By William Butler Yeats
11 - The House Of Christmas By GK Chesterton
12 - The Masque Of Christmas By Ben Jonson
13 - The Old Year By John Clare
14 - Upon Christ His Birth By Sir John Suckling
15 - An Ode Of The Birth Of Our Saviour By Robert Herrick
16 - A Christmas Carol By Aubrey De Vere
17 - A Christmas Carol By GK Chesterton
18 - A Christmas Carol By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
19 - Christmas Poem By Robert Herrick
20 - Ceremonies For Christmas By Robert Herrick
21 - Christmas Carol By Sara Teasdale
22 - The Mahogany Tree By William Makepeace Thackeray
23 - Minstrels A Christmas Poem By William Wordsworth
24 - Old Christmastide (An Extract) By Sir Walter Scott TIM
25 - Joseph by GK Chesterton
26 - The Nativity By Henry Vaughan
27 - Nativity By John Donne
28 - The Beautiful Mother By Jacopone Da Todi
29 - New Prince New Pomp By Robert Southwell
30 - In The Bleak Midwinter By Christina Rossetti
31 - Winters Naked Wood By Daniel Sheehan
32 - Christmas At Sea By Robert Louis Stevenson
33 - No Mercy Here By Daniel Sheehan
34 - A Christmas Ghost Story By Thomas Hardy
35 - God Rest By Daniel Sheehan
36 - December Sales Drive By Daniel Sheehan
37 - Christmas For Atheists By Daniel Sheehan
38 - Carol By Ben Jonson
39 - The Savior Must Have Been A Docile Gentleman By Emily Dickinson
40 - T'Was Just This Time Last Year I Died By Emily Dickinson
41 - As Sleigh Bells Seem In Summer By Emily Dickinson
42 - Christmas Fancies By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
43 - Ring Out Wild Bells Christmas Poem By Alfred lord Tennyson
44 - Christmas Bells By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(Tags : Christmas Poetry - A Season In Verse: Classic Xmas poems that make the perfect Christmas gift Thomas Hardy, G.K. Chesterton, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ben Jonson, Emily Dickinson, John Clare, John Milton, Robert Herrick, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Southwell, Sara Teasdale, W.B. Yeats & William Makepeace Thackeray Audiobook, Thomas Hardy, G.K. Chesterton, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ben Jonson, Emily Dickinson, John Clare, John Milton, Robert Herrick, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Southwell, Sara Teasdale, W.B. Yeats & William Makepeace Thackeray Audio CD )
