Christmas Connections: Part 12 of 12
It is indeed twelve drummers drumming. It should be a dozen drummers drumming, actually, for that provides alliteration indeed. And 'a dozen' scans well with the 'eleven' of the previous stanza.
Why drummers, and what drumming is it? Or as Auden put it, "O what is that sound which so thrills the ear / Down in the valley drumming, drumming? / Only the scarlet soldiers, dear, / The soldiers coming."
For the drum is, of course, a symbol of war and confusion to the enemy. It is percussive, and it ends the feast. And then the real business of the new year can begin.
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"On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a dozen drummers drumming."
Why drummers, and what drumming is it? Or as Auden put it, "O what is that sound which so thrills the ear / Down in the valley drumming, drumming? / Only the scarlet soldiers, dear, / The soldiers coming."
For the drum is, of course, a symbol of war and confusion to the enemy. It is percussive, and it ends the feast. And then the real business of the new year can begin.
=====
"On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a dozen drummers drumming."
etched with acid at 12:01:00 am
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