I Heard the Bells: The Christmas Carol Born Out of Pain
I Heard the Bells: The Christmas Carol Born Out of Pain
Every Christmas season brings familiar songs to our ears—carols we’ve sung for years and often recite without thinking. But behind some of these songs are stories so real, so raw, that they deepen the meaning of every line we sing. One of the most powerful examples is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The backdrop of this beloved carol is not twinkling lights, warm fires, and carefree holidays. It was written in a time of grief, national division, and personal despair. And yet, out of that darkness came one of the clearest declarations of Christmas hope.
A Life Turned Upside Down
In 1860, Longfellow was at the height of his career. His poetry was celebrated, Abraham Lincoln had just been elected, and the nation felt a spark of hope. But everything changed when tragedy struck his home.
Longfellow’s wife—whom he deeply loved—accidentally caught her dress on fire. Longfellow tried desperately to extinguish the flames, burning his own hands and face so severely he couldn’t even attend her funeral. His journal entry that Christmas was painfully honest:
“How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.”
As the Civil War escalated the following year, so did the death count. Longfellow wrote again at Christmas:
“A Merry Christmas say the children, but that is no more for me.”
Then, in 1863, his oldest son ran away to join the Union Army. He was shot and nearly paralyzed, eventually being carried back home to Longfellow in December. There is no journal entry from that Christmas at all—likely because the weight of grief was simply too much.
This is the world in which I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day was born.
A Poet Who Heard the Bells
On Christmas morning in 1864, Longfellow sat down—heavy, grieving, and worn—and heard the church bells ringing through the town.
The sound stirred something in him. Memories. Tradition. The message of Christmas he knew but struggled to feel.
He began to write:
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
But as he listened to the carols, his honest heart cried out again:
“And in despair I bowed my head;
There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.”
That verse captures the very heartbeat of his grief.
His wife was gone.
His son was wounded.
His country was tearing itself apart.
He looked around him and said, “There is no peace.”
And yet—Longfellow didn’t stop writing.
He kept listening.
Because the bells kept ringing.
The Truth the Bells Declared
The final verse is where the hope of Christmas finally breaks through:
“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
That is the truth Longfellow rediscovered that Christmas morning.
God is not dead.
God has not forgotten.
God is not sleeping through your suffering.
The birth of Christ is the proof.
Longfellow realized something you and I must also hold onto—Christmas joy is not built on circumstances. It is not based on how well life is going, how peaceful the world is, or whether everything feels okay.
Christmas joy is rooted in a Savior who came into a world filled with grief, violence, sin, and despair—and came to conquer it all.
The Bells Still Ring
When the angels stood before the shepherds in Luke 2, their message wasn’t a warm holiday slogan. It was a declaration of cosmic truth:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.”
Peace with God—brought by the One born in Bethlehem. That is the peace Longfellow remembered as the bells rang. And it’s the peace you and I desperately need.
Though life may feel chaotic…
Though fear may grip your heart…
Though you may feel the weight of your own battles…
God is not dead.
God does not sleep.
And the wrong shall fail, the right prevail.
Jesus came to bring peace with God and the peace of God to those who believe. No matter what this year held for you—joy or sorrow, peace or pain—the message of Christmas remains unchanged.
Christ came.
Christ saves.
Christ reigns.
Christ is our peace.
