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Celebrate! A Christmas Carol Illustrated + Poetry Prompt

By T.S. Poetry 8 Comments

A Christmas Carol poetry Street

A Christmas Carol and Poetry

Christmas Carol-snowy street cover outlined

Christmas celebrations. Scrooge. Personal transformation via haunting visions. It’s A Christmas Carol!

Enjoy the classic Christmas ghost story from Charles Dickens, accompanied by an Invitation to Read from author and poet Megan Willome.

This annotated version includes history, original poetry, and special writing prompts you can try—and then share your results with the Tweetspeak Poetry community.

Megan’s reflections will help you rethink how the story can apply to you as a modern reader. Book club discussion questions (which are also suitable for use in private journaling) are provided.

Try It: A Christmas Carol Poetry Prompt

In the “extras” section of our new edition of the classic ghost story A Christmas Carol, author Megan Willome writes a rondeau. What will you write?

Share your poems in the comment box below!

Options

1. Write a holiday carol poem
2. Write a ghostly holiday poem
3. Write a poem with A Christmas Carol references
4. Write a poem from the point of view of one of the characters from A Christmas Carol

Photo by Josh Hild, via Unsplash.

Get the Kindle version (color illustrations)
Get the print version (black & white illustrations)

Christmas Carol-snowy street cover outlined

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T.S. Poetry
T.S. Poetry
Helping you get inspired. With poetry & poetic things.
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Filed Under: article, Blog, Books, Christmas Poems, Classic Books, English Teaching Resources, poetry prompt, writing prompt, writing prompts

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Comments

  1. Joshua C. Frank says

    December 9, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    I wrote this one not too long ago; it’s scheduled to be published at the end of the month.

    Two Empty Chairs

    (Scheduled to be published at the Society of Classical Poets, December 30, 2022; based on a letter to the editor of Seattle Catholic, 2002)

    Two empty chairs, each in its place—
    The kitchen table’s vacant space,
    Where our six children see the chill
    Of unworn seats, both standing still
    Like Tiny Tim’s by the fireplace.

    We timed the marital embrace
    To procreate at slower pace.
    That empty phrase means none shall fill
    Two empty chairs.

    Our family planning did erase
    Two precious souls we can’t replace;
    We chose ourselves above God’s will.
    Their nonexistence buys each frill,
    And never shall their presence grace
    Two empty chairs.

    Reply
    • Megan Willome says

      December 11, 2022 at 8:54 pm

      Thank you for sharing this tender poem, Joshua. So glad it’s finding a place in the world.

      Reply
  2. Sara Barkat says

    December 9, 2022 at 4:45 pm

    There was an old miser named Scrooge
    whose cheque-book and lock-box were huge
    one night came three ghosts
    to show him the ropes
    and reveal what it hurts most to lose.

    Reply
    • Megan Willome says

      December 11, 2022 at 8:55 pm

      Ha! A limerick!

      Love it, Sara! It’s funny and succinct.

      Reply
  3. L.L. Barkat says

    December 9, 2022 at 5:21 pm

    Limerick! What a great idea, Sara. After all, A Christmas Carol is deeply witty. Fun literary allusions. Fun puns. I simply can’t abstain. 😉

    There was an old man in bed
    who couldn’t get out of his head.
    Three ghosts came along
    once the clock went “ding dong,”
    and now the chum’s doling out bread.

    Reply
    • Megan Willome says

      December 11, 2022 at 8:56 pm

      Ha! Love it! Thanks for chiming in.

      Reply
  4. Rebecca D Martin says

    December 10, 2022 at 9:42 am

    I’ve been geekily, inspiredly crafting found poems from some of my own writings lately. Here’s a _Christmas Carol_ poem pulled from an essay I wrote ten years ago on Dickens and Irving, Christmas spirits and the sooty backdrop to Dickens’s most famous holiday tale:

    DIFFERENT INDEED

    Chimneys and spirits correspond with
    London’s poorest child
    It’s hard to get left out, all the
    carols and quadrilles
    for the upper classes who
    aren’t worn to death

    Heighten the sentiment:
    “Keep Christmas” Dickens says
    with Irving (Who was the original
    santa? St. Nick or Present’s Ghost,
    Tiny Tim or Scrooge,
    does it matter?) There are
    only the chimneys
    They are either dark or bright

    Reply
    • Megan Willome says

      December 11, 2022 at 8:58 pm

      Thank you, Rebecca! So wonderful to know another person with affection for these old Christmas tales. I love how your poem shows how they speak to each other.

      Reply

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