Analysis of Christmas East of the Berlin Wall
Vas da nacht before Christmas as da old shtory goes
ven little Hans Mitvoch shtood on his toes
staring up at the sky the full moon made so clear
in fear that old Santa vould nicht come hier.
Hans knew his haus vas east of da vall,
but still he prayed Santa vould come after all.
The old yellow moon and the stars up so high
vatched da tired little boy fall asleep by and by.
Soon Mama Mitvoch came to her son
and carried him to bed…his long vigil done.
A tear trickled slowly down her sad vinkled face
as she tucked Hans into bed and put the pillow in place.
She vas sad for da sorrow that morning vould call
ven Hans vould learn Santa vas stopped by the vall.
But, at that very moment, many miles avay
Santa vas approaching Berlin in his sleigh.
He had made all his stops on the vest side of town
now he was headed east to continue his rounds.
He saw an East German guard at Checkpoint Charlie
so he got out of da sleigh for to make mit da parley.
Ven da guard saw old Santa he quickly snapped to
and said, “Guten Abend, mein Herr, do you vish to pass thru?”
“Ya! Iss dat time of year again you know.
My verk here is done, so to Moscow I go.”
Then Santa drove on into East Berlin
laughing so hard he shook without and within.
“Vat a dumkopf!” Santa laughed as he drove,
“That guard thought me a Comrade in my bright red clothes.”
The dawning came gaily on light dancing feet
awakening the children Christmas morning to greet.
Hans sprang from his bed mit nary a thought
0nly hoping to find a toy Santa had brought.
He found presents all around in glittering splendor
needing just a child’s touch to bless the sender.
It is the joyous peals of children’ laughter
that makes jolly old Santa live ever after.
This merry old elf has no restrictions it seems
for his limits are the boundaries of childhood dreams.
Neither barbed wire nor walls can keep him away,
now, “Merry Christmas to all!” is all I will say.
Scheme | AAXBCCDDEEFFCCDGXXCCHHIIJJXXKKLLBB BBMMGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111011011111 110111111 101101011111 01111011110 111111111 11111011101 01101001111 1110101101101 11011101 01011111101 01101010111 11110110101001 111111011011 11111011101 11110101011 10101001011 111111101111 111101101011 11111011110 1111111111111110 111111011011 0111011111111 1111110111 1111111111 1101101101 10111101001 101101111 11110101111 01011011101 0100010101011 111111111001 11011011011 1110101010010 10101111010 11010111010 111011011010 110111101011 111010100111 101101111101 110101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,942 |
Words | 395 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 34, 6 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 748 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 186 |
About this poem
written while in while in West Berlin
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Written on 1965
Submitted by Snodeel on December 07, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:58 min read
- 9 Views
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"Christmas East of the Berlin Wall" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/115276/christmas-east-of-the-berlin-wall>.
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