Silent Night
The opening words of the poem explicitly describe that the events take place on December 24. The next day is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, obviously. Although not a religious poem in its portrait of Christmas, it is not without some imagery and metaphor that brings to mind the spiritual aspect of the holiday. For instance, it has created a metaphor routinely used to describe a certain type of peaceful serenity…a silent night, if you will:
“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”
Awkward
For the most part, the figurative language in this poem is simple and direct. Metaphorical imagery is primarily limited to similes and the descriptive flourishes are in keeping with the poem’s appeal to children. As long as the speaker confines himself to the facility of declarative sentences making the natural trek from subject noun to punctuation mark, the verse offers little difficulty for public performance. There is one example, however, where things just go absolutely haywire as if the poet was suddenly trying to, well, poetic. In the process the rhythm gets throw to the curb and the imagery he is working so hard to convey becomes a mess of confusion:
“As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,”
Why Isn’t the Narrator Alarmed?
One might well ask why the speaker of the poem does not seem to be terribly concerned that he is apparently the victim of intended burglary. At the very least, he is a victim of breaking and entering and, besides, he’s in that uncertain state when one is suddenly jarred awake just minutes after settling into the unconsciousness of sleep. Why would the events which quickly unfold not induce at least anxiety if not panic? Imagery solves the mystery as it is effectively and efficiently revealed that there is a strange out-of-sync fantastical quality going on in the natural world outside. In the pre-electrical setting of the poem, it should be too dark to see much of anything going on outside and yet all the potentially chilling mystery is almost supernaturally removed:
“The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,”
The Most Mysterious Christmas Imagery of All
This poem contains what is arguably the single most mysterious image that is so closely associated with Christmas that despite the fact few can actually picture what it means, everyone gets it. Go ahead, ask someone to accurately describe what a sugar plum is or looks like. Even better: grab the nearest person with a British accent and ask them. Chances are you will have to do a lot of grabbing before you get the right answer:
“The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;”
