Love Came Down at
Christmas
Christina Rossetti
The poem describes “love,” Jesus Christ, coming down from
heaven on Christmas. This “love” is on earth for all of humankind to feel and
learn from. All those who subscribe to Christianity, and all those who do not,
are part of it. Rossetti depicts “love” as “incarnate,” made flesh in a human
body. Jesus is the embodiment of divine love and she sought to celebrate that
fact through this short and memorable poem.
Structure
‘Love Came Down at Christmas’ by
Christina Rossetti is a three-stanza poem
that’s separated into sets of four lines, known as quatrains. These quatrains
follow a specific rhyme scheme of
ABAB CDCD, changing end sounds as the poets fit. This helps with the musical
quality of the text and is part of the reason that the poem has persisted in
song form since its first publication. The meter alternates
every other line, six syllables and seven syllables, that is until the last
stanza where it goes up to eight.
Poetic Techniques
Rossetti makes use of several poetic techniques in
this poem. These include but are not limited to anaphora, epistrophe,
and alliteration.
The first, anaphora, is the repetition of
a word or phrase at the beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession.
This technique is often used to create emphasis. A list of phrases, items, or
actions may be created through its implementation. For example, “Love,” which
begins eight of the twelve lines. Anaphora’s opposite, epistrophe, is the
repetition of the same word, or a phrase, at the end of multiple lines or
sentences. This can be seen with the use of “divine” and “sign” at the ends of
lines two and four of stanzas one and two. Then, the sign appears again at
the end of line four of stanza three.
Alliteration occurs when words are used in succession,
or at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example,
“Love,” “lovely,” and “love” in the second line of the first stanza or, “sacred
sign” at the end of stanza two.
