I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

According to biographers, Longfellow wrote “Christmas Bells,” on December 25, 1864, although some dispute the exact date. According to Brisbanes (See: Further Reading & Resources), Longfellow heard church bells on a Sunday, against the distant cannonade. Thus, holiness was mixed with warfare, and Longfellow had a built-in conflict for his poem.

The speaker of the poem “hear[s] the bells on Christmas Day” (Line 1) and notes how they are “familiar” to them. The speaker views the bells as “wild and sweet” (Line 3) and notes the continually repeating message of “peace on earth, good-will to men” (Line 5), which gives the audience a consistent, hopeful message of faith. This phrase, which is taken from the Biblical passage Luke 2:14, notes the arrival of the Christ child and emphasizes the role he will play as savior.

This deep belief in Christ’s message of unity is conveyed as the speaker notes how the bells signify the importance that this sentiment had “rolled along / [an] unbroken song” (Lines 8-9) for generations. The speaker privileges this sentiment as correct. Day after day, the bells solidify “a voice, a chime, / [a] chant sublime” (Lines 13-14), emphasizing the idea that mankind should be peaceful and hope the best for their neighbors, echoing the Christian idea to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which appears in both Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12.