It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Imagine a whole world going quiet to listen. Edmund Sears opens with angels and golden harps, then spends the rest of the poem asking what it would take for people to hear and live by their message of peace.

Why do people sing different tunes?

The Christian Register in Boston published Sears's five verses without music on 29 December 1849. Richard Storrs Willis's melody, CAROL, became familiar in the United States. British singers often know NOEL, an English melody arranged by Arthur Sullivan. Both fit the same pattern of alternating longer and shorter lines. First printing and historic music editions.

Sing it quietly

Choose one tune for the group before starting. Try singing the final two lines more softly, as if the room is going still to hear the angels.

Find more songs in the Christmas nursery rhymes and carols collection.