Poetry Analysis

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” By Logan Hornback

The Nightmare Before Christmas by Logan Hornback is the poem under analysis. Logan Hornback is just a teenage boy who is unknown by the world and just likes to write poems. He said “I always loved to write deep, dark and beautiful stories; so I guess this poem brings out a funnier yet still disturbing side of me.” He just seems to have made it up for no apparent reason; no experiences or true stories.The poem is about a person who was visited by Santa on Christmas night, as all kids are, and instead of getting a present, he just got coal. Ever since then, they have hated Santa. You can tell by the last stanza: “I’ll never forget the obese man in red; I’ll hate him forever, until the day I am dead.”

    The Nightmare Before Christmas is mostly made of couplets, although there is a point where there are 2 rhyming stanzas instead of lines. The first stanza is a couplet. The author uses personification when he says that the walls shake. He uses imagery when he says “Big, fat Santa bounded through my halls,” and gives us a clear image of what is happening. The mood seems sort of spiteful because of the name-calling. It was overall a pretty good start to the poem to set the mood. The second and third stanzas change up the rhyme scheme of the poem a little bit because instead of the AA rhyme scheme the rest of the poem has, they are in an ABCB rhyme scheme. The second stanza seems like it is still a spiteful tone, because of the way he says “He ate all my cookies, drank all my milk.” You can tell that the narrator wouldn’t want Santa to do that again. He uses imagery in the whole third stanza, giving us an image of what Santa is dressed in, which enhances the image we get in our minds when reading it. The mood is still kind of spiteful, although it doesn’t seem as intense as before. The rest of the stanzas are all couplets. The author uses personification in the fourth stanza when he says the toys make noise. The mood seems the same as before still, although it seems to be growing a little more intense, because the story is starting to actually take place now. The fifth stanza has a simile: “He smelled like fresh tobacco smoke.” Again, the putting down makes it easier to tell that he doesn’t like Santa. The author also uses imagery in the fifth stanza when he says an “irritated poke” because it describes the action better and tells how it was done. The mood is still getting more intense, almost hateful now. The sixth stanza uses imagery with the line “A grumpy look came upon his face,” because it tells that Santa is unhappy with the situation. The mood is still getting more intense, and it now seems like not only the narrator is unhappy, but Santa also is. The seventh stanza has a disappointing tone. The narrator thinks they will be getting a present, but ends up only getting coal. They are on the naughty list. The seventh stanza may be the most important stanza, because it gives the reason why the narrator is so hateful of Santa. The author uses imagery in the eighth stanza when he says “With an angry look, he set it down with ease,” because it gives us an image of what Santa is doing and it also helps tell the mood of Santa. He also uses imagery in the second line, “Then walked up to my chimney, and gave his nose a squeeze,” because it gives an image of what is going on. The mood is hard to tell in this stanza, because of the way it is worded. The ninth stanza does a very good job of ending the poem. It finally shows how intense the mood really was. You can tell by how he says “I’ll hate him forever, until the day I am dead.”

I think that it is a good, well-written poem. It is a simple poem, yet the author uses poetic tools to give us a better image of what is going on. The author also managed to put some humor into it, too, which is always guaranteed to make it a good read. I also think that putting it in and AA rhyme scheme made it easier to understand, because it feels like it was easier to read.