I haven't read a lot of Chesterton's poetry -- his one about the donkey at Easter will always be my favorite, I think -- but I've enjoyed what you have presented here. This is a lovely Christmas poem, the reminder that this earth is not God's home, but His coming gave us a home. I love this new-to-me rhyme scheme which creates a fascinating stanza that emphasizes each final line even more than usual, and brings such a satisfying and comforting ending to the poem.
The meter is actually varied: only in stanzas 2 & 4 are the first four lines in 4/3/4/3 ballad meter.
So line 3 of the opening stanza has 3 beats (for a 4/3/3/3 pattern); and lines 3 & 4 together, cleverly, are a near match for the final two lines of the poem (that penultimate line of the poem is also the only trimeter in any of the lines 5-7 in each stanza).
Stanza 3 I hear as 3/3/3/3 on the opening four lines, and stanza 5 as 3/2/3/3; it's a progressive narrowing on the odd stanzas, culminating in that final trimeter pair - that final line 7 being the only short line 7 and the only non-rhyming line 7, the final word of which is itself truncated from "homeless" to "home" in the final line.
I don't actually find the last line of the opening stanza metrically difficult? The first four syllables of “Than the squáre stónes of Róme" form a standard iambic variation I call a "pump": a beat is pumped forward, creating a "di-di-DUM-DUM" pattern. Most often, as here, the two beats are a monosyllabic adjective and noun (and, indeed, it's this recurring "di-DUM-DUM" pattern whenever there's a small connecting word + monosyllabic adjective + noun that historically necessitated the development of this metrical variation!). In this instance, it's also wonderfully expressive: the solid compactness of the pump befits the "square stones", enhanced by the following tight iamb closing on the assonating "Rome".
I haven't read a lot of Chesterton's poetry -- his one about the donkey at Easter will always be my favorite, I think -- but I've enjoyed what you have presented here. This is a lovely Christmas poem, the reminder that this earth is not God's home, but His coming gave us a home. I love this new-to-me rhyme scheme which creates a fascinating stanza that emphasizes each final line even more than usual, and brings such a satisfying and comforting ending to the poem.
Wonderful poem! There is much power in paradox!
The meter is actually varied: only in stanzas 2 & 4 are the first four lines in 4/3/4/3 ballad meter.
So line 3 of the opening stanza has 3 beats (for a 4/3/3/3 pattern); and lines 3 & 4 together, cleverly, are a near match for the final two lines of the poem (that penultimate line of the poem is also the only trimeter in any of the lines 5-7 in each stanza).
Stanza 3 I hear as 3/3/3/3 on the opening four lines, and stanza 5 as 3/2/3/3; it's a progressive narrowing on the odd stanzas, culminating in that final trimeter pair - that final line 7 being the only short line 7 and the only non-rhyming line 7, the final word of which is itself truncated from "homeless" to "home" in the final line.
I don't actually find the last line of the opening stanza metrically difficult? The first four syllables of “Than the squáre stónes of Róme" form a standard iambic variation I call a "pump": a beat is pumped forward, creating a "di-di-DUM-DUM" pattern. Most often, as here, the two beats are a monosyllabic adjective and noun (and, indeed, it's this recurring "di-DUM-DUM" pattern whenever there's a small connecting word + monosyllabic adjective + noun that historically necessitated the development of this metrical variation!). In this instance, it's also wonderfully expressive: the solid compactness of the pump befits the "square stones", enhanced by the following tight iamb closing on the assonating "Rome".