Although much of American, Henry W. Longfellow's poetry was religious, little of it has been set to music. His brother Samuel was a noted writer of hymns and the work of the two is sometimes confused. Written as "Christmas Bells" in 1864 these words were later set to this very appropriate music; the bass sound like the ringing of a bell. The last four bards come from an old "Amen".
In 1861, two years before writing this poem, Longfellow's personal peace was shaken when his second wife of 18 years, to whom he was very devoted, was tragically burned in a fire. Then in 1863, during the American Civil War, Longfellow's oldest son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father's blessing. Charles soon got an appointment as a lieutenant but, in November, he was severely wounded. Charles eventually recovered, but his time as a soldier was finished. References to the Civil War are prevalent in some of the verses that are not commonly sung.
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