It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

This piece is meant to be a plea for peace on earth and a reminder to always

keep the holiday spirit with us and remember our shared humanity.

The poet, Edmund Sears, was an American preacher lamenting his own personal

melancholy, the life lost in the Mexican-American War, and general tumult in the

world at his time. He describes the world as sinful and cruel, failing to hear the message

of Christmas. The poem offers a plea to hear the message of Christmas to bring

humanity out of the darkness. I found the message of this poem to be just as pertinent

in modern times as when it was written.

SATB A Cappella w. Divisi, T/B Solo.

“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”

By: Edmund Sears(1810-1876)

It came upon a midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,

To touch their harps of gold:

"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,

From heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love-song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing.

For lo!, the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world give back the song

Which now the angels sing.

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