Examine how different writers present the theme of Christmas

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   Examine how different writers present the theme of Christmas

I am going to look at three Christmas Poems and compare the way the poets present the theme of Christmas, looking at the similarities and differences between them. The poems I have chosen are “Ballad of the Bread Man” and “Innocent’s Song”, which are both by Charles Causley, and "A poem for Christmas" by Raymond Soutster.

        All the poems are describing a slightly different aspect of Christmas. "Ballad of the Bread Man" is describing the religious aspect of Christmas and telling the Story of both Christmas and Easter and the life of Jesus whereas "Innocent's Song" although it is still describing the religious side of Christmas, describes the Story of King Herod who ordered all the baby boys to be killed. It shows the darker side of Christmas that no one really thinks about “Why when he caws his carol does the salty snow run red”. It shows that when all the rest of the world is celebrating a time of peace, there is still evil about. It is warning us to beware, by reminding us of Herod as most of us don’t realise that Christmas does have a dark, evil side to it that most people forget about. “Watch where he comes walking out of the Christmas flame”. This makes it quite original and surprising, as it is not what you would expect a Christmas poem to be about. "A poem for Christmas" however is all about the commercialisation of Christmas, and how it has all become very superficial and the true religious meaning has been lost along the way. All the time it is trying to remind us that Christmas isn’t just about presents and Father Christmas.  All of the poems are trying to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas, but they each do it by reminding us of different bits of the religious stories.

        The titles also tell us a lot about the poems.  "Ballad of the Bread Man" is a very Ironic title, as you would think that it will be about a baker by just looking at that and there is no mention of Jesus’ name at all. This is because it wants you to read on to find out who the Bread Man is, and also because it has the effect of being very comical. This is because it is taking the mickey out of Jesus, as the bread is a metaphor for the feeding of the five thousand story and also Jesus saying that the bread was the Body of Christ. You can tell from this title straight away that this is a humorous poem. This is similar in a way to the title of Causleys other Poem "Innocent's Song" as that is an Ironic title as well. You think that it will be a happy, child’s song about having fun at Christmas and innocence, but really it is about murder and the destruction of innocence. The title starts to set the tone of the poem, that things aren’t quite what they first appear. This is different to  "Ballad of the Bread Man" as it is not a humorous sounding title at all. This compares to "A poem for Christmas" because like the other two poems the title "A poem for Christmas" is also ironic, as you would think it was a poem about a traditional Christmas from the title, but it’s about commercialisation. All of the titles lead us to believe the poem is about something completely different to what it actually is.

        The Poems have a lot of themes in common as well, such as Power. In  "Ballad of the Bread Man" the power belongs to the society who are judging. They all have their opinions of Jesus and don’t like him very much. “That boy will never be one of us”. You can even see that from the title, as they are mocking him by calling him the Bread man. He is so special and does all these amazing, magical things “He was charged with bringing the living to life” This is something that you think people would want and thank him for, but instead they kill him for it because they are so small minded and jealous and are just looking for a reason to kill him. “They were only just in time” shows us that they thought Jesus was dangerous and had to be killed quickly, or else they didn’t know what he would do next. The people were judging Jesus and his family and this is reinforced by repetition of the word “they” and “the neighbours said”. They always had an opinion, but they were wrong and as there was so many of them, they had the power and that led to Jesus’ death. This compares to "Innocent's Song" as in that poem King Herod is the one who has all the Power. “What is he doing with the children” and “ Who’s that knocking at the window” give us that impression, as you get the feeling that the man is in control, and he is just standing watching these children through the window in a threatening way. He is doing something to the children and they are powerless to stop him, as they are just innocent children and he’s an evil king. In "A poem for Christmas" however, it is the shops that have the power, as they are the ones benefiting from the commercialisation,as we are spending hundreds of pounds in their shops on presents and they are getting richer and richer. “All sales final” emphasises this power, as once you have bought something, you have no power to return it. “Barber-pole candy cane” also shows this, as it is a Christmas thing that was made up by the shops to make people buy more and spend more, so they get more money. The whole theme of this poem reinforces this, as it shows just how important the shops are at Christmas as every thing is about shopping and money “ONLY TWO MORE SHOPPING DAYS”. Other themes the poems have in common are prejudgement and misconceptions. In  "Ballad of the Bread Man" this is shown because the people judge Mary and Jesus even before he is born “That girls been up to no good” and from the title we misconceive what the whole poem is about. This is similar to "A poem for Christmas" because it shows how we have a misconception about Christmas, and when we think of Christmas, we completely miss the true meaning of it and think its all about money and buying presents “Scotch pines $2.50”when it’s not. We also misinterpret the poems title to be something its not. The strongest theme in this poem however, is commercialisation and our changing attitudes towards Christmas. This is shown by the way bits of traditional Christmas Carols are mixed with aggressive sales tactics. “Noel Noel Scotch pines $2.50” In the past it used to be all about the religious aspects mentioned in the Carols and now that is being hidden and lost behind our modern image of Christmas. In "Innocent's Song" we prejudge the “smiling stranger” as being a friendly father Christmas figure, and it is only when we take a closer look that we realise that something is wrong. Yet again we misinterpret the title, which in a way backs up this idea as it shows that we just take things at face value, and are naturally quite trusting. In this poem there is also a clear theme of innocence. How the children were so innocent and helpless against this man and how Herod destroyed their innocent lives.The most noticeable theme that all of the poems have in common, is that all of them are trying to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas and in all of them things aren’t what we expected.

        The way that the poem is written backs up it’s meaning. "Ballad of the Bread Man" is written as a ballad, which means it reads like a story, which backs up the meaning because it is the story of Jesus. As it is a ballad, it also has a strong singsong rhythm. The 2nd and 4th lines rhyme, which carries it forward and makes you want to read on to the next part of the story. The first two lines of the stanza set up a different part of the story, just like a chapter does in a book, and it is then resolved in the second two lines. This has the effect of making each stanza like a mini story in itself, which is just like the bible, where lots of little stories make up one big one. This backs up the meaning of the poem as the poem is all about the religious side of Christmas. The rhyme makes it sound humorous because it makes you read it in a certain way in order to make the lines rhyme and fit into the rhythm. This backs up the idea that this isn’t a serious poem, as you wouldn’t usually sing a bible story in this way and it is not the way in which we expect something so serious to be treated. It also has the effect of making it easy to understand and sound childish.

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        This compares to "Innocent's Song" which is also written as a ballad as it has the same rhyme scheme. This has the same effect of making you read it in a sing-songey way, and it almost sounds like a child’s nursery rhyme. It sounds innocent. There is a change of rhyme scheme at the end of the last stanza unlike "Ballad of the Bread Man" and this shows that this stanza is different. The 1st and 3rd lines rhyme as well as the 2nd and 4th and it has the effect of changing the rhythm and tone as well. This is because it sounds like an ...

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