Famous Yule Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Yule poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous yule poems. These examples illustrate what a famous yule poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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In Memoriam A. H. H.: 78. Again at Christmas did we weave

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 Again at Christmas did we weave 
The holly round the Christmas hearth;
The silent snow possess'd the earth,
And calmly fell our Christmas-eve:

The yule-log sparkled keen with frost,
No wing of wind the region swept,
But over all things brooding slept
The quiet sense of something lost.

As in the winters left behind,
Again our ancient games had place,
The mimic picture's breathing grace,
And dance and song...Read more of this...

Villonaud for This Yule

by Ezra Pound
 Towards the Noel that morte saison 
(Christ make the shepherds' homage dear!)
Then when the grey wolves everychone 
Drink of the winds their chill small-beer 
And lap o' the snows food's gueredon 
Then makyth my heart his yule-tide cheer 
(Skoal! with the dregs if the clear be gone!)
Wineing the ghosts of yester-year.

Ask ye what ghost I dream upon? 
(What of...Read more of this...

389. Song—Duncan Gray

by Robert Burns
 DUNCAN GRAY cam’ here to woo,
 Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,
On blythe Yule-night when we were fou,
 Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,
Maggie coost her head fu’ heigh,
Look’d asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh;
 Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.


Duncan fleech’d and Duncan pray’d;
 Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig,
 Ha, ha, the wooing o’t:
Duncan...Read more of this...

219. Song—To Daunton Me

by Robert Burns
 THE BLUDE-RED rose at Yule may blaw,
The simmer lilies bloom in snaw,
The frost may freeze the deepest sea;
But an auld man shall never daunton me.
Refrain.—To daunton me, to daunton me,
 And auld man shall never daunton me.


To daunton me, and me sae young,
Wi’ his fause heart and flatt’ring tongue,
That is the thing you shall never see,
For an auld man...Read more of this...

Duncan Gray

by Robert Burns
 Duncan Gray cam here to woo,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
On blythe Yule Night when we were fu',
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Maggie coost her head fu' high,
Looked asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh;
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

Duncan fleeched, and Duncan prayed;
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig;
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Duncan sighed baith out and...Read more of this...

The House of Christmas

by G K Chesterton
 There fared a mother driven forth 
Out of an inn to roam; 
In the place where she was homeless 
All men are at home. 
The crazy stable close at hand, 
With shaking timber and shifting sand, 
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand 
Than the square stones of Rome. 

For men are homesick in their homes, 
And strangers...Read more of this...

The Ships of Yule

by Bliss Carman
 When I was just a little boy,
Before I went to school,
I had a fleet of forty sail
I called the Ships of Yule;
Of every rig, from rakish brig
And gallant barkentine,
To little Fundy fishing boats
With gunwales painted green.
They used to go on trading trips
Around the world for me,
For though I had to stay on shore
My heart was on the sea.

They stopped...Read more of this...

507. Song—Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay

by Robert Burns
 CAULD is the e’enin blast,
 O’ Boreas o’er the pool,
An’ dawin’ it is dreary,
 When birks are bare at Yule.


Cauld blaws the e’enin blast,
 When bitter bites the frost,
And, in the mirk and dreary drift,
 The hills and glens are lost:


Ne’er sae murky blew the night
 That drifted o’er the hill,
But bonie Peg-a-Ramsay
 Gat grist to her mill....Read more of this...

Penmaen Pool

by Gerard Manley Hopkins
 For the Visitors' Book at the Inn


Who long for rest, who look for pleasure
Away from counter, court, or school
O where live well your lease of leisure
But here at, here at Penmaen Pool? 
You'll dare the Alp? you'll dart the skiff?— 
Each sport has here its tackle and tool:
Come, plant the staff by Cadair cliff;
Come, swing the sculls on Penmaen...Read more of this...

Christmass

by John Clare
 Christmass is come and every hearth
Makes room to give him welcome now
Een want will dry its tears in mirth
And crown him wi a holly bough
Tho tramping neath a winters sky
Oer snow track paths and ryhmey stiles
The huswife sets her spining bye
And bids him welcome wi her smiles
Each house is swept the day before
And windows stuck wi evergreens
The snow is...Read more of this...

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