Christmas in Poetry Trivia Quiz

Answer: St. Ambrose

Ambrose (340-397) was a major figure in the early church and was one of the chief people responsible for the Christianization of the Western world. His written works include some important theological treatises as well as hymns, and he is honored as a Doctor of the Church. For many years he was credited with having invented the hymn form, a distinction which has since been refuted; however, his contributions to Christian hymnody are considerable. "Veni, Redemptor Gencium" is a hymn upon the Incarnation, and was once sung at first vespers of the Nativity, on Christmas Eve, though it was dropped after the adoption of the Tridentine Rite.

It was translated in the 16th century by Martin Luther as "Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland".

Answer: Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"

"Angelus ad Virginem" recounts the story of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary; Chaucer makes mention of it in "The Miller's Tale", where it is sung by Nicholas, the clerk of Oxford:
"And over all there lay a psaltery
Whereon he made an evening's melody,
Playing so sweetly that the chamber rang;
And Angelus ad virginem he sang"
The use of this carol in the story serves a satirical purpose; Nicholas is lodging at the home of a carpenter, whose lovely (and much younger) wife Alison captures Nicholas' eye. The story concerns Alison and Nicholas' machinations to arrange a tryst with each other, thereby cuckolding the simple carpenter. The plot of "The Miller's Tale" is somewhat of a grotesque parody of the biblical story of Mary and the angel, as recounted in "Angelus ad Virginem".

Answer: Isaiah

Dunbar (1460-1513) was known for the striking character of his opening lines (his poem on the Resurrection begins ""Done is a battell on the dragon blak"). This poem's opening lines are from Isaiah 45, 7-8: "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour forth righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring forth together; I, the Lord, have created it." The text was used in the Catholic liturgy as the introit (entrance antiphon) for the fourth and final Sunday of Advent. The final line of each verse is from Isaiah 9, verse 6. Dunbar's fascinating poem takes its cue from the nature imagery used by Isaiah and describes the birth of the Savior in similar terms:
"Heavens, distill your balmy showers;
For now is risen the bright Day-star
From the rose Mary, flower of flowers:
The clear sun, whom no cloud devours,
Surmounting Phoebus in the East,
Is comen of His heav'nly towers,
Pro nobis puer natus est."
The use of Latin, as well as the idealization of the Virgin Mary, recalls Scotland's medieval, pre-Reformation past, while the reference to the pagan gods (Phoebus in verse I, Aurora in verse III) hearkens back to antiquity. Dunbar is best known for the poems he wrote for the royal family, notably the romantic ode "The Thrissill and the rose", penned for the nuptials of James IV and Margaret Tudor in 1503. His body of work includes much comical and darkly satirical poetry, some of which occasionally earned him the disapprobation of the royals. The 20th century Scottish poet Hugh Mc Diarmid esteemed Dunbar above all Scottish poets of the past, and when asked to select a model for contemporary poets stated decisively "Not Burns, but Dunbar!"

Answer: Robert Southwell

Southwell was born in Norfolk and was ordained a priest of the Jesuit order in Paris. His career was destined to last less than ten years; he returned to England at the height of the persecution of recusant Catholics under Elizabeth. Southwell stated his objections to the Anglican Church in a treatise presented to the queen entitled "An Humble Supplication to Her Majesty", a document which resulted in his imprisonment. In 1595, at the age of 33, he was hanged as a traitor.

"The Burning Babe" is the best-known of Southwell's poems; it uses strikingly dramatic imagery to describe a vision of the Christ Child:
"As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear"

The child describes himself as a furnace, fueled by love, in which men's souls are purged of their sins. At the end of the poem, the child vanishes, and the narrator recalls that it is Christmas day.

Answer: "Vom Himmel Hoch, Da Komm' Ich Her" ("From Highest Heaven to Earth I Come")

Luther translated many traditional Latin texts of the early church into German for use in German churches; among these include "Christum, Wir Sollen Loben Schon" (adapted from Sedulius' "A Solis Ortus Cardine") and "Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland" (adapted from St. Ambrose's "Veni, Redemptor Gencium"). "Vom Himmel Hoch", however, was an original work written for his own family's Christmas celebration (Luther did adapt the text for the first verse from the folksong "Ich Komm aus Fremden Landen Her" and used the melody of that song). "Vom Himmel Hoch", in it's entirety, consists of fifteen verses; the thirteenth and fourteenth verse have been adapted into English as the tender lullabye known as "Balulalow".

Answer: Hamlet

These words are spoken by Marcellus, one of the palace guards at Elsinore, in Act I, scene I of Shakespeare's play. The ghost is, of course, that of Hamlet's murdered father, who has been haunting the battlements. The guards have brought a skeptical Horatio to witness the dread vision, which fades when the cock's crow heralds the break of dawn. To Marcellus' eloquent speech, Horatio replies "So have I heard and do in part believe it."

Answer: Robert Herrick

Herrick (1591-1674) led a rather troubled life, his father having committed suicide the year after his birth. Following his education at St. John's University at Cambridge, he was ordained a priest of the Anglican church in 1623. He was appointed Dean Prior of the parish of Devonshire, from which he was expelled in 1647 for his rejection of the Solemn League and Covenant, but he was reinstated in 1660. Although he did write a sizeable body of religious poetry, Herrick's most characteristic and beloved poems celebrate the ephemeral pleasures of country life.

The best-known of these are "To Anthea", "Gather ye Rosebuds", "To Daffodils", "On Julia's Clothes", and "On Julia's Breasts". However, his "Christmas Carol", quoted above, has always enjoyed considerable popularity; it was written in 1620 and was "...Sung to the King in the presence at White Hall." It has been set to music on more than one occasion, most recently by the English composer and conductor John Rutter (this setting has been used, for rather mysterious reasons, in television commercials for Volvo automobiles).

Answer: Priest

Ironically, although Vega's numerous amorous escapades would have made his own life story the subject of an entertaining play, he had always been attracted to the priesthood. Taking vows did not in any way curb his love life, however, and he carried on many affairs with both married and unmarried women while, at the same time, imposing strict penances upon himself, which included regular self-flagellation "for the good of his soul". Vega's "Cantarcillo de la Virgen" has been translated into English and set to music by the German composers Hugo Wolf (as "Die ihr schwebet") and Johannes Brahms (as "Geistliches Wiegenlied", or "Spiritual Lullabye").

Answer: Ben Jonson

This poem, of which there are four stanzas, was one of two "Poems of Devotion" which were published posthumously in 1640 (the other is "An Hymn to God the Father"). Although he wrote little sacred verse, religion played an important part in Jonson's life; for many years he wavered between Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism.

His predeliction for the latter got him into some trouble; in 1603 he was hailed before the Privy Council on charges of "popery and treason". Two years later, he was suspected of involvement in the famous Gunpowder Plot.

Answer: St. John of the Cross

John was born in poverty and devoted himself early in life to religion and charitable works. Along with Teresa, he struggled to reform the Carmelite order, facing down tremendous opposition. His spiritual poetry includes the great "Dark Night of the Soul" and the "Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ". His romance on "In Principio" takes the form of a dialogue between the members of the Trinity and concludes with the Annunciation to Mary and the Nativity. The final stanza of the poem is particularly moving:
"The Mother gazed in sheer wonder
on such an exchange:
in God, man's weeping,
and in man, gladness,
to the one and the other
things usually so strange."

In addition to this Romance, John composed the following brief Christmas refrain, which is believed to be a fragment of a larger poem:
"The Virgin, weighed
with the Word of God,
comes down the road:
if only you'll shelter her."

Answer: It was set to music by Handel.

This epic poem was written before dawn on December 25, 1629. Milton's "Nativity Ode" is a massive work, divided into two sections of unequal length: an introduction of four stanzas, which leads to "The Hymn", which consists of twenty-seven verses containing allusions to the Old Testament (Noah's ark and the Covenant, Isaiah, Job, and the Psalms) and to various pagan deities, including the Roman gods Pan and Saturn, the Greek Cynthia (Diana), The Semitic deity Moloch, and a number of Egyptian and Phoenician gods (Osiris, Anubis, Isis, Horus, and Typhon among the Egyptians; Peor, Baalim, Dagon, Ammon, Thammuz, and Astaroth among the Phoenicians). These last are described as being consigned to obscurity in the penultimate six stanzas of the poem, having been the gods worshipped by the oppressors of Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament.
Milton's 1630 poem "The Passion" is somewhat of a sequel to the Nativity Ode and opens with an allusion to the earlier poem:
"Ere-while of Musick and Ethereal Mirth
Wherewith the stage of Ayr and Earth did ring,
And joyous news of heav'nly Infant's birth,
My muse with Angels did divide to sing;"
The great German-born composer Georg Friederich Handel had set Milton's poetry to music; his oratorio "Samson" was a setting of Milton's "Samson Agonistes" and he also created an oratorio from Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso". Sadly, however, he did not set the Nativity Ode to music.

Answer: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night

"While Shepherds Watched" has enjoyed tremendous popularity in England and, subsequently, in America, where it was set to music by several prominent composers of the Colonial era. Today, it is usually sung in the U.S. to a melody derived from Handel's opera "Siroe"; the Tye setting is still extensively used in England. Apart from this verse, Tate is best known for the satirical poem "Panacea: a Poem Upon Tea"; he also collaborated with Dryden on "Absalom and Achitopel" and provided the libretto for Henry Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas".

A notably less resplendent jewel in his crown (though it was popular into the 19th century) was his rewrite of Shakespeare's "King Lear", which terminates in a happy ending in which Cordelia marries Edgar and all live happily ever after.

Answer: Joy to the World

The text of "Joy to the World" is from a 1719 work entitled "The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament". It is a quite liberal paraphrase of Psalm 98 and is titled "The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom". Set to music, it has become one of the most popular sacred carols in the repertory, though the text makes no explicit reference to Christmas, or even to the birth of Christ.

Watt's "Cradle Hymn" mentioned above is actually not addressed to the Christ Child, but takes the form of a lullaby in which a mother reminds her child of how well loved he is, and how thoroughly his wants and needs are attended to. By contrast, she sings, the Christ Child was born in want and need, his love rejected by sinful men. There are several musical settings of the "Cradle Hymn", though it has never achieved anything like the popularity of "Joy to the World".

Answer: St. Alphonsus Liguori

Alphonsus (1696-1787) was a Neapolitan of noble birth. He entered the church at age 29 and founded the Redemptorist order (alternately known as the Liguorians) in the early 1730s. Thirty years later, he was appointed bishop of Saint Agata dei Gotti, but was forced to resign this position due to ill health.

He was fated to spend his declining years struggling with physical problems (which included severe rheumatism and failing eyesight, which resulted in eventual blindness) and defending his embattled religious order from the royal government.

He is recognized as a Doctor of the Church for his religious writings. He was fond of music and, as a youth, was a frequent habitué of the opera (his religious poems, such as the one above, exude a certain operatic aura). "Tu Scendi" has been set to the tune of a Neapolitan Christmas melody known as the "Pastorelle Neapolitan" or the "Bagpipe Carol" ("Canzone di Zampogna").

Answer: Marmion

"Marmion" is an epic romantic poem centering upon the Battle of Flodden Field. Scott began work on it in November of 1806; so great was his reputation by this time that his publisher offered him one thousand guineas for the copyright to the poem, sight unseen.

The poem occupied a special place in Scott's heart; he later wrote to his son-in-law : "Oh, man, I had many a grand gallop among these bracs when I was thinking of 'Marmion.'" The author's patriotism was, no doubt, spurred by the machinations of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Christmas quotation begins Canto VI and is entitled "Mertoun House, Christmas." It conjures up an image of Christmases of old, with great roaring fires and enormous Christmas pies. The shadow of the great battle that will bring the tale to its fateful climax hangs over the festivities, but in no way diminishes their indomitable spirit.

Answer: The names of the reindeer

Moore was the first to give names to St. Nick's reindeer (the reindeer-drawn sleigh was already an established part of the myth, having been derived from the Norse god Odin's reindeer-guided chariot). The names Dasher and Dancer were probably inspired by Cracker and Gnasher, the two goats who guided the chariot of Thor, the Norse god of thunder; similarly, the names Donner and Blitzen are the German for thunder and lightning. The Christmas stocking was an existing tradition by 1822, having been derived from a legend of the real St. Nicholas. The saint was rumored to have saved three dowerless girls from being sold into slavery by tossing bags of gold through their open window at night; the bags landed in their shoes, which were directly under the window. It became traditional in Europe (and, later, the U.S.) to leave out shoes or stockings on the eve of the saint's feast day (December 6th) to be filled with goodies. And the name "Santa Claus" (derived from the Dutch, Belgian, and German names for St. Nicholas) is not used in the poem; the nighttime visitor is referred to only as St. Nicholas or St. Nick.

Moore (1779-1863) was a professor of Oriental and Greek literature at the General Theological Seminary of New York City; he had previously authored the two-volume "Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language." He wrote "A Visit From St. Nicholas" on Christmas Eve of 1822 for the pleasure of his children (seven in all), having allegedly been inspired after a sleigh ride in town to purchase a turkey for his wife. The poem was published the following year and became enormously popular; it is now an established Yuletide tradition in the U.S. Clark's one other notable bit of verse is decidedly more melancholy; the poem "To Southey", composed upon the untimely death of his wife Catherine Elizabeth (nee Taylor) at the age of thirty.

Answer: In the Bleak Midwinter

Rossetti (1830-1894) was born in London of Italian parents; her father, Gabriele Rossetti, was himself a celebrated poet. She was reared by her mother as an Anglo-Catholic and devoutly maintained this religion throughout her life. Her uncompromising adherence to her faith had the unhappy result of blighting her romance with artist James Collison, with whom she parted company when he converted to Roman Catholicism. After her break with Collison, she suffered a deep depression, from which she sought solace by writing devotional verse.
"In the Bleak Midwinter" was one of several Christmas poems from a collection entitled "Time Flies; A Reading Diary", which was a series of poems for various days in the Church year. The above quotation is the final verse of the poem, often taken out of context for use in Christmas cards and the like, which frequently has the result of making it seem trite and simplistic. The poem's first stanza, as the title indicates, paints a vivid portrait of a bitterly cold winter's day:
"In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone."
The poem goes on to describe with wonder the poverty and humility in which the God whom "heaven cannot hold...nor earth sustain" was pleased to be born. The narrator resolves to offer a gift to the Savior and, having nothing of material value to give, offers her/his heart. Although Rossetti had not intended her lines to be set to music, the British composers Harold Darke and Gustave Holst each wrote a celebrated musical setting of this well-loved poem.

Answer: His son had been wounded.

In 1863 Longfellow's son Charles Appleton Longfellow, a soldier in the Union army, had been seriously wounded and had been sent home to recuperate. Earlier, in 1861, the same year that the war had begun, Longfellow's wife Fanny (Charles' mother) had been fatally burned in a freak domestic accident, the memory of which was still fresh as the poet worried over his son, and he passed the Christmas of 1863 in silent anxiety. The younger Longfellow's condition had improved by Christmas of the following year, and the poet's renewed faith in the promise of "peace on earth" is reflected in "Christmas Bells", penned on Christmas Day of 1864. The verse mentioned above is verse 4:
"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!"
The poet is momentarily plunged into despair by the cannon's roar, but is reassured by the pealing bells that
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, goodwill to men!"

Answer: That they knelt at the hour of Christ's birth.

Hardy's poem recalls his childhood, when he was told that the oxen knelt upon the hour of Christ's birth:
"Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
'Now they are all on their knees,'
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen.
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then."

Although Hardy was far from being a religious man, here he laments that "fancy few" believe this charming tradition, and confides that "If someone said on Christmas Eve
"Come; see the oxen kneel..."
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
"The Oxen" first appeared in print in the London "Times" on Christmas Eve, 1915.

Answer: Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke (1875-1926) was nominally a Catholic; his actual religious beliefs were decidedly abstract, putting him at odds with the orthodox teachings of the Church. He was, however, fascinated with the cult and theology of the Virgin Mary, which fed his poetic imagination.

The "Marienleben" poems hearken back to medieval times in their use of symbolism; the Annunciation poem even recalls the old legend of the Virgin having tamed a unicorn (an antique symbol of virginity; the unicorn enclosed was long used to represent Mary's protection from Original Sin). Rilke wrote this cycle in 1913 during his stay at the Duino castle in Trieste, along with the first of his celebrated "Duino Elegies". "Das Marienleben" was set to music for female voice and piano by the great German 20th century composer Paul Hindemeth.

Answer: ee cummings

The lack of capitalisation and punctuation unmistakeably marks the quotation above as the work of cummings (although the other three also wrote poems on the subject). cummings' charming and touching poem reflects a child's thoughts upon seeing a Christmas tree, and recalls Hans Christian Anderson's bittersweet tale "The Fir Tree" The poem was first published in "The Dial" in January of 1920. Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962) was a native of Cambridge Massachusets, though he sepnt much of his adult life in Paris, afer having served there in the ambulance corps during WWI.

A painter as well as a poet (though he is principally known as the latter), his nonconformist disregard for punctuation and capitalisation earned him both detractors and imitators.

It is woth noting that cummings was eccentric even in his eccentricity; he actually was fond of hyphens and parenthesis, while eschewing all other forms of punctuation.

Answer: Sylvia Plath

Plath's inspiration for this poem was her daughter, Frieda Rebecca Hughes, of whom she writes: "Six months in the world, and she is able
To rock on all fours like a padded hammock.
For her, the heavy notion of Evil
Attending her cost less than a bellyache,
And Love the mother of milk, no theory."
"Magi" was one of several poems deleted from the posthumous publication of "Ariel" by Plath's husband, Ted Hughes (some poems were understandably edited out, as they rather viciously skewered several people known to Plath who were still alive, though why "Magi" was left out is something of a mystery). It was restored in a subsequent edition published in 2004.

Answer: It is told as a first-person narrative by one of the wise men.

Eliot's 1927 poem is told from the point of view of one of the Eastern sages who came to honor the Christ child. The poem vividly describes the difficulty of the journey and the paradox of its conclusion; the discovery of the Child is at once wondrous and unsettling. At the end, the sage describes his and his companions' return to their kingdoms in these haunting lines:
"We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death."

Longfellow's "The Three Kings" is the longest (fourteen stanzas) and most conventional of the three; it covers the events of the story up to the Magi's return to their country by another route, to avoid King Herod.

Yeats' "The Magi" is a rather stark reflection upon the poet's childhood memory of the figures of the Magi "...In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones". He remembers them as standing in perpetual frozen expectancy, eternally hoping to enccounter again "... The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor".

Answer: Langston Hughes

Hughes was an author, poet, and playwright; born in Missouri in 1902, he lived during the formative years of the American Civil Rights movement. Keenly aware throughout his life of the perceived second-class status of blacks, his writings encouraged self-awareness among people of color, encouraging them to disregard the way they were viewed by whites; he came to be regarded as the poet laureate of African Americans.

In "Carol of the Brown King", Hughes notes the inevitable presence of one dark-skinned magi at the side of Christ's manger in traditional depictions of the Nativity, and reflects upon the inherent equality of the three wise men, despite their racial differences. Hughes also authored the 1961 "Black Nativity", as "song-play" which celebrates the birth of Christ using the idiom of traditional African-American church music.

Answer: Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel)

Theodore Seuss Geisel first published this now classic story in 1957. The story has obvious parallels with Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" with the exception that the Grinch, unlike Scrooge, is not content merely to sneer at the holiday he so despises, but resolves to put a stop to it altogether. He hopes to achieve this by disguising himself as Santa and stealing everyone's Christmas presents and ornaments. Although he is successful in stealing the presents and trappings of Christmas, he is astonished upon Christmas morning to hear the detested Whos singing as joyfully as always. The realization that Christmas is something far greater than he had previously thought brings about a change (and enlargement) of heart, and he returns the stolen toys and ornaments to the residents of Whoville.
Geisel related that he actually identified with the Grinch; he too was disaffected by the hoopla and sentimentality of the holiday season. He preferred to celebrate the true "spirit of the season" by spending it quietly with his family in Massachusetts. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was televised as an animated cartoon feature in 1966. narrated by Boris Karloff. If you are not a resident of the U.S. (or if you are, but spent much of the past four years, like the Grinch himself, dwelling in a cave atop an isolated mountain), you may not be aware that a film version was released in the year 2000 directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch.
And, on that note, here is a very early welcome (as this quiz is, finally, being completed in January 2005) to Christmas, 2005 and to all Christmases hence:
"Welcome Christmas,
come this way!...
Christmas Day,
Is in our grasp,
So long as we,
Have hands to clasp!"