Welcome back to Just Listen.  Today’s selections, a group of twenty-five Christmas poems, come from some of the greatest poetic voices of the English language.  A combination of sentiments – both glad and sad, cheery and dreary – run the gamut in detailing the events of the Christmas story from its humble beginnings in Judea to the silver bells of Christmastime in the city, from dark stories found in the Bible to make-believe legends of elves and flying reindeer.

Naturally, the Christmas holiday lends itself readily to numerous interpretations on the same theme.  An example of this is found in the first three poems, all entitled “The Annunciation” and detailing the encounter of the Angel Gabriel with the Virgin Mary, to whom it is announced that she will bear the Christ child, the Savior of the World.

For an explanation of the Christmas tradition of telling ghost stories round a fire, also on this podcast, scroll down to the following selections:

December 6, 2021       “Afterward,” Part I    Edith Wharton
December 10, 2021     “Afterward,” Part II    Edith Wharton
December 17, 2021     “Kerfol”        Edith Wharton

And for the classic O. Henry Christmas tale, scroll down to

December 20, 2018    “The Gift of the Magi”   O. Henry

I hope you enjoy today’s selections and find Just Listen a great place for listening to some holiday favorites!  And if you have an appetite for more ghost stories, our sister podcast, All Things Eerie, is just a few clicks away!

And now, Christmas poems…we begin….