At the beginning of the Christmas holidays, six boys set off from school with their reverend escort in a light post-chaise. They are bursting with excitement, blowing makeshift trumpets and cheering loudly as they head home along the Woodford road. The mood is pure, noisy delight — a release from schoolwork into weeks of freedom. But when the poem jumps forward six weeks, the same road sees a very different scene. The boys return in a lumbering coach, no trumpets sounding, no shouts of joy. As the carriage stops and the bell tolls at the gate, they step down not as lively children but as quiet as if they were new inmates of a school for the deaf and dumb. The contrast is both funny and a little sad. The speaker captures with a light, knowing touch how quickly holiday happiness gives way to the reluctant plod back to routine, leaving the boys — and the reader — in a mood of muted resignation.
Christmas Holidays — Summary
Along the Woodford road there comes a noise Of wheels, and Mr. Rounding's neat post-chaise Struggles along, drawn by a pair of bays, With Reverend Mr. Crow and six small boys, Who ever and anon declare their joys With trumping horns and juvenile huzzas, At going home to spend their Christmas days, And changing learning's pains for pleasure's toys. Six weeks elapse, and down the Woodford way A heavy coach drags six more heavy souls, But no glad urchins shout, no trumpets bray, The carriage makes a halt, the gate-bell tolls, And little boys walk in as dull and mum As six new scholars to the Deaf and Dumb!