‘Innocent’s Song’ by Charles Causley. My first impression of this poem was that it rhymed. So immediately I wanted to read on. The rhyming pattern is, A, B, C, B. The tone of the poem is quite cheerless. It gives you a false impression, because when you first read it you think it is about Santa Claus, and that it will be very cheerful. But when you dig deeper, you discover that the poem is talking about Herod. Herod was a King who killed the entire first born boys. So when you read the poem, you determine the fact that it is quite horrid.
I thought that it was Santa Claus first because it asks, ‘What are all those presents lying on the kitchen floor?’ and children think that Santa is the one who buys them all the presents that they receive on Christmas morning. ‘With hair white as gin’, which is the only simile in the poem, is also another trade of Santa, as he has extremely white hair and a white beard. But then it starts to ask ‘why has he rubies on his fingers?’ and why does he have ‘a cold, cold crown on his head?’ Now I know for certain that Santa doesn’t wear jewellery and I wouldn’t exactly describe any of the Santa’s hats that I’ve seen as being a ‘cold crown’. So now we are in suspense to discover whom the mystery person is. When I discovered that it was Herod it made me feel quite sick. I then remembered that ‘gin’ isn’t ‘white’ it’s clear, so it is obvious that Herod is a fraud. It bothered me when I thought of it mentioning him being with the children, as he was no longer just a murderer, but he also was described as a sort of paedophile. ‘What is he doing with the children’? Made me wonder, as I’d just discovered that it wasn’t innocent Santa Claus, but a murderer. ‘Why, when he caws his carol, does the salty snow run red?’ to me this line is an awful way of describing the lose of so many young children’s lives. The colour ‘red’ represents blood, and ‘salty’ represents the tears the parents shed for their children. A caw is a noise, which a crow produces, and we associate them with death, as they are black and death is usually associated with the colour black. I imagine crows flying around little children, waiting for them to be killed when I read this line. Herod is a danger to them and the poem shows this, ‘his fingers made of fuses’, is a warning for the children, as they know that fuses are dangerous. ‘Why does he ferry my fireside’? , is also another time when Herod is shown as dangerous. ‘Ferry’ man is often a signal of death and Herod killed so many children that he could also be used as a signal of death.
To get the children to come near him he lured them, the poem describes him as using ‘his tongue of gingerbread’ to do this. Hansel and Gretal is a well-known story of two young children being lured by gingerbread and sweets to a witch’s house. This story has a good connection with ‘Innocent’s Song’ as it is about how the children were coaxed by Herod to come to him. Children went to him even though he was a ‘stranger’ because he was ‘smiling’, and obviously appeared to look friendly. They weren’t to know they were falling into a web of deceit. The children give into him but the poet is asking the reader why? ‘Why does the world before him melt in a million suns?’ This is because Herod is as powerful as the sun, everyone knows it’s there, but nobody knows how to stop it!
In this poem I feel that Herod is a phantom, the embodiment of the devil even. At Christmas there are lots of excited, little children, so he could be associated with Christmas as there are lots of children for him to deceive and kill.
Herod is cunning, convincing the children to come to him, to believe that he is friendly. But Charles Causley is also as cunning, as he makes us believe that it is Santa first, but then we discover that it is really Herod.
He uses one simile, ‘smiling stranger’ and one alliteration, ‘dancing, double taking’. My overall impression of the poem was that Herod was a dangerous man, who won children over by lying to them, ‘double-talking’.
‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ by Charles Causley. My first impression was great- it rhymes. The poem also had the structure A, B, C, B. This poem is an original version of the Nativity Story which has been deliberately made to be comical. I think it is done rather cleverly as it includes things from the Bible, so it’s traditional, but that has been adapted and jazzed up so it’s suitable for all ages, ‘God in his big gold heaven, sitting in his big blue chair.’ This is an excellent way of describing the sky and heaven. The title has also been cleverly thought out, ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ is a good title as Jesus is often associated with ‘bread’. In the Last Supper Jesus offers ‘bread’ and wine to his disciples, therefore a good connection to the Bible story.
However, this is not the only religious reference in the poem. In fact most of the poem’s stanzas are modernised so it is more understandable. I have chosen my favourite three stanzas to explain.
‘ Joseph was in the workshop
Planing a piece of wood.
“The old man’s past it,” the neighbours said.
“That girl’s been up to no good.”’
This stanza shows us how hard it must have been for Mary, as the neighbours were forever gossiping about her and Joseph. ‘The old man’s past it’ suggests that Joseph was impotent and ‘that girl’s been up to no good’ suggests that Mary had had an affair with another man. Nobody could understand how the baby had come about, as Mary claimed she was still a virgin, so the neighbours had to think of a logical explanation. I also wonder how Joseph felt, obviously he wanted to believe his wife that it was God’s son, but he must have wondered as well as the neighbours.
‘ A few days later a bishop
And a five-star general were seen
With the head of an African country
In a bullet-proof limousine.’
This stanza is describing when in the Nativity Story; three kings visit Jesus. Only in this poem they are not three kings, but a ‘bishop’, a ‘general’ and a ‘head of an African country’. They also arrive in a ‘limousine’ in the poem, but we know that cars weren’t invented in Jesus’ time, and that the three kings travelled afar to see such a miracle child. This brings humour to the poem as it shows that the so-called three kings had to take time out of their hectic lives just to visit the baby. The fact that the ‘limousine’ was ‘bullet-proof’ could mean that they were not very popular, and had a lot of enemies. To be on the safe side they had to have a quick get away.
‘They stored him safe as water
Under seven rocks.
One Sunday morning he burst out
Like a jack-in-the-box.’
This stanza explains Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Apparently, the people who buried him, thought they did so rather well as ‘seven’ is a symbol for perfection and ‘water’ is pure. So nobody could understand how he managed to escape his surroundings, especially as he was supposed to be dead. His resurrection is described as him bursting out like a ‘jack-in-the-box’. It’s not exactly how I would have described it but it is humorous. We know that a ‘jack-in-the-box’ is unpredictable, they can pop up at any time, and they are surprising. This also accounts for the same thing that happened to Jesus. He appeared just when everyone least expected it.
Charles Causley also makes it clear that nobody wanted to get to know Jesus, ‘nobody seemed to care’ and none of the neighbours believed that he was the Son of God, ‘nobody saw the god in himself’. The ‘paper crown’ that Jesus is described as wearing, is not the crown of thorns, but a present from his father (God) for giving life. However this crown shows us how fragile the life Jesus is living, really is. We know that paper crowns are weak and with a wrong movement could break any minute. I feel that it was a warning to Jesus, his state could change any minute if he was not careful. But to me, Jesus was only doing what he thought best, and unfortunately that was not good enough, ‘he was charged with bringing the living to life. No man was that prisoner’s friend’. The poet clearly shows how unfair Jesus’ life was; he didn’t deserve what was given to him.
Even though the poem is humorous it’s also sad when you think of the pain and anguish that Jesus went through.
There are no similes or alliteration in this poem. But the word ‘nobody is repeated three times, in three consecutive lines, and the words ‘Mary never’ is repeated twice in two consecutive lines. Therefore proving that repetition was used to get various points across.
I personally enjoyed reading the poem because to me Christmas is all about enjoying yourself and having a laugh, and you can’t get a more amusing but traditional poem to read on Christmas Day than this one!
The three poems I’ve read have all been very different, the poets, Miroslav Holus and Charles Causley expressed their ideas towards Christmas very differently. How to make a perfect Christmas’ wasn’t describing a biblical event like the other two, it was more of a traditional poem, to do with the events of Christmas- the ‘tree’ and presents. Whereas, ‘Innocent’s Song’ was about the corrupt King Herod and ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ was about the life of Jesus. So all three poems were different according to their themes. Miroslav Holus obviously feels that Christmas should be traditional but not necessarily have anything to do with the Bible, whereas I feel Charles Causley is quite religious and thinks that Christmas relates to biblical events. Both of Charles Causley’s poems rhyme, but ‘How to make a perfect Christmas’ by Miroslav Holus doesn’t.
Although they were different in that sense, they did have similarities. Both poems by Charles Causley were describing a biblical story. Even though these stories were completely different, they still came from the Bible. These two poems also had a rhyming pattern of A, B, C, B.
On the other hand, Charles Causley’s poems didn’t have any connections to Miroslav Holus’s poem. The only connection I found was that all three poets were describing what they thought of when they thought of Christmas. Charles Causley connected his two poems together by the idea of an angel and the word ‘bread’. In ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ Angel Gabriel was included and in ‘Innocent’s Song’ Herod was an angel of death. The title used the word ‘bread’ in ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ to relate to Jesus. ‘Innocent’s Song’ used ‘gingerbread’ to describe Herod’s tongue.
Both poets treat Christmas very differently and although Charles Causley wrote two out of the three poems they both had completely distinct views towards Christmas. All three poems are original and they all see Christmas in special ways.
My favourite poem out of the three has to be ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ by Charles Causley. The way he describes the life of Jesus is truly remarkable. I know that some people were offended by the way he described Jesus, but as I’m not religious I thought the poem was cleverly comical. I liked the way he took each part of the story and saw it in a different light. Normally I get bored reading things associated with the Bible, but as this was so whimsical it did anything but bore me.
Although now I do, I didn’t start by thinking it was comical, I thought that nobody should treat such a biblical event like this. But then I realised it was all in the humour of Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be a time when everybody is happy, laughing. I feel that Charles Causley just wanted to liven the traditional, boring story up. I don’t think he wrote it intentionally just to hurt religious people, he just wanted people who do not enjoy Bible stories to take interest. I know when someone mentions the word ‘Bible’ I think that it’s going to be boring. At least now people may actually understand the Nativity Story, as it has been modernised for their benefit.
The best part of this poem was how God and his surroundings were described, ‘God and his big gold heaven, sitting in his big blue chair’. Charles Causley couldn’t have described it any better. It’s quite simple, but full of life. I imagine him every time I read those lines and it seems so beautiful up there in the sky. Nobody knows what heaven really looks like, they just presume. ‘Gold’ is such a warm colour, it makes me think how peaceful, but grand it must be in heaven.
I’ve never really enjoyed reading poetry, as I’ve always thought that it was uninteresting. But since we have been reading so much of it I have actually started to enjoy some pieces. I’ve realised that not all poetry is doom and gloom, if you take the time, you actually discover that it has meaning and depth. Not something you should just discard. I have also begun to appreciate poetry even if it doesn’t rhyme. Some of the best pieces I’ve read haven’t rhymed, but they’re just as good as pieces that do. An example of this is ‘How to create a Perfect Christmas’. It wasn’t as good as ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ but the words were meaningful and creative.
Poetry is a good way to express your feelings towards Christmas, and both poets have done just that!
