The Mocking of The Christmas Bells

1860 - Henry was at the peak of his success as a poet. Abraham Lincoln had just been elected President, giving hope to many.

1861 - But things soon turned dark for America and for him personally. The Civil War began, and Henry’s wife died in a tragic accident in their home. He suffered severe burns on his hands and face while trying to save his wife. He was so badly burned that he could not even attend her funeral. In his diary for Christmas Day 1861, he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays."

1862 - A year after her death, he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace." Christmas day - the toll of war began to mount, and in his diary for that year Henry wrote, "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."

1863 -  Henry received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded with a bullet passing under his shoulder blades and taking off one of the spinal processes. There is no entry in Henry's diary for that Christmas.

1864 - Christmas day. He wrote the words of the poem ‘Christmas Bells'.

"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!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, 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!

Then from each black accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed 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!'"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sources:   1    2    3