Holiday Poems

Happy Holidays! In order to showcase the holiday poems, carols, hymns, and songs that are available on Poetry X we have prepared this guide to walk you through our winter wonderland of poetry.

Many of these poems and songs will be familiar, but some will not. Below you’ll find poems and carols separated by category. Some of the carols may appear twice - once in their original language and again in English translation. A number of the translations are quite different from their original counterparts, which is why we list each as a separate poem. Also, please note that song lyrics usually represent the writing of the original authors and may not reflect the changes that modern songwriters, poets, or arrangers have made to the carols to make them better fit music that was written long after the words were.

While this English-langage-based site will necessarily reflect the traditions and culture of English-speaking nations, we have included some carols and poems in other languages.

Each author is listed with the most current knowledge of the poem’s true attribution. For instance, the poem beginning “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” while commonly thought to have been written by Clement C. Moore, was actually written by Major Henry Livingston, Jr. So if you think something is missing be sure to browse a bit and you may find that for which you are searching.

Christmas - Secular

• “Account Of A Visit From St. Nicholas” by Major Henry Livingston, Jr.
• “Old Santeclaus” by Clement C. Moore
• “A Christmas Morning” by Jared Carter
• “The Christmas Homes Of England” by Caroline Hayward
• “A Christmas Carol” by George Wither
• “Christmas Trees” by Robert Frost
• “The House Of Hospitalities” by Thomas Hardy
• “St. Nicholas” by Horatio Alger
• “Christmas-Eve, Another Ceremony” by Robert Herrick
• “Ceremonies For Christmas” by Robert Herrick
• “At Christmas” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “On Going Home For Christmas” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “Guessing Time” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “The Days Of Days” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “Signs” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “A Christmas Carol” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “The Christmas Gift For Mother” by Edgar Albert Guest
• “A Christmas Carol” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• “Christmas In The Olden Time” by Sir Walter Scott
• “Marmion” by Sir Walter Scott
• “Christmas In India” by Rudyard Kipling
• “Mistletoe” by Walter De La Mare
• “Minstrels” by William Wordsworth
• “This Section Is A Christmas Tree” by Vachel Lindsay
• “Christmass” by John Clare
• “A Year’s Carols: 12 - December” by Algernon Charles Swinburne
• “The Meeting” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• “December” by Dollie Radford

Christmas - Religious

• “Journey Of The Magi” by T. S. Eliot
• “The Oxen” by Thomas Hardy
• “My Sister’s Sleep” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
• “Christmas Carol” by Sara Teasdale
• “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• “The Three Kings” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• “On The Morning Of Christs Nativity” by John Milton
• “Nativity” by John Donne
• “An Ode of the Birth Of Our Savior” by Robert Herrick
• “A Christmas Carol, Sung To The King In The Presence At White-Hall” by Robert Herrick
• “Christ’s Birth” by Robert Herrick
• “In The Holy Nativity Of Our Lord God: A Hymn Sung As By Shepherds” by Richard Crashaw
• “Jesus Inter Ubera Mariæ” by Joseph Beaumont
• “The True Christmas” by Henry Vaughan
• “Christ’s Nativity” by Henry Vaughan
• “The Shepherds” by Henry Vaughan
• “The Nativity” by Henry Vaughan
• “Upon Christ’s Nativity, Or Christmas” by Rowland Watkyns
• “The Burning Babe” by Robert Southwell
• “New Prince, New Pomp” by Robert Southwell
• “The Holy Night” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• “Christmas Eve” by Robert Browning
• “The Holy Star” by William Cullen Bryant
• “Karma” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
• “The Magi” by William Butler Yeats
• “A Hymn On The Nativity Of My Savior” by Ben Jonson
• “On The Infancy Of Our Savior” by Francis Quarles
• “The Nativity Of Our Lord And Saviour Jesus Christ” by Christopher Smart

Christmas Carols

• “We Three Kings Of Orient Are” by Rev. John Henry Hopkins
• “O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) [Original Latin] by John Francis Wade
• “O Little Town Of Bethlehem” by Phillips Brooks
• “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear” by Edmund Hamilton Sears
• “Jingle Bells (One-Horse Open Sleigh)” by James Lord Pierpont
• “Joy To The World” by Isaac Watts
• “Up On The Housetop” by Benjamin R. Hamby
• “Westminster Carol (Angels We Have Heard On High)” by James Chadwick
• “Coventry Carol” by Robert Croo
• “O Holy Night” by Placide Clappeau (translated by John Sullivan Dwight)
• “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” by Charles Wesley
• “Masters In This Hall” by William Morris
• “Good King Wenceslas” by John Mason Neale
• “Good Christian Men, Rejoice English translation by John Mason Neale
• “O Come, O Come Emmanuel English translation by John Mason Neale
• “Christ Was Born On Christmas Day English translation by John Mason Neale
• “Angels From The Realms Of Glory” by James Montgomery
• “Hallelujah Chorus” by Georg Frederic Handel
• “The First Noël” by Anonymous
• “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Anonymous
• “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” by Anonymous
• “I Saw Three Ships” by Anonymous
• “Go Tell It On The Mountain” by Anonymous
• “Deck The Halls” by Anonymous
• “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” by Anonymous
• “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” by Anonymous
• “The Wassail Song” by Anonymous

Cowboys, Mountaineers, Pirates, and Scoundrels (For the Holidays)

• “Christmas Shopping In Cactus Center” by Arthur Chapman
• “The Trapper’s Christmas Eve” by Robert Service
• “The Christmas Tree” by Robert Service
• “White Christmas” by Robert Service
• “The Sceptic” by Robert Service
• “The Fire At Ross’s Farm” by Henry Lawson
• “Ben Duggan” by Henry Lawson
• “Santa Claus” by Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson
• “Santa Claus In The Bush” by Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson
• “Busted Cowboy’s Christmas” by D. J. O’Malley
• “Christmas At Sea” by Robert Louis Stevenson

Non-English

French

• “Il Est Né, Le Divin Enfant” by Anonymous
• “Quand Dieu Naquit À Noël” by William Sandys
• “Minuit Chrétiens (Cantique De Noël)” by Placide Clappeau

German

• “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” by Rev. Joseph Mohr
• “O Tannenbaum” by Ernst Gebhard Anschutz

Latin

• “Adeste Fideles” by John Francis Wade
• “Ave Maria” by Anonymous
• “Veni, Veni, Emanuel” by Anonymous

Hanukkah

• “Dreidel Song” by Anonymous
• “Hanerot Hallalu” by Anonymous
• “Maoz Tzur” by Anonymous
• “Mi Yemalel” by Anonymous
• “Sevivon, Sov, Sov, Sov!” by Anonymous

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