18 pages • 36 minutes read
The Death of Santa Claus
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“The Death of Santa Claus” is a narrative poem of 10 stanzas written in tercets (three-line stanzas), for a total of 30 lines. There is no rhyming in the poem and no discernable meter, making it an example of free verse. The lengths of the lines vary between five and nine syllables. The organizing principle is the plot of the story. The first seven stanzas concentrate on the death of Santa Claus, which is portrayed realistically. The remaining three stanzas center on the moment the speaker’s mother confirms that Santa does not really exist. This prompts a reflection back on the first part of the poem and to reevaluate it as a metaphor for the child speaker learning that Santa is a myth, which destroys his belief, causing it to die. This is represented in the symbol of Santa’s heart attack.
Kinetic Imagery
One thing that helps to create the emotional resonance in “The Death of Santa Claus” is the strong imagery that indicates physical movement, called kinetic imagery. The heart attack Santa has—and its consequences—is made the more vivid by descriptions that pay attention to physical movement. The attack itself feels “as if a monster fist / has grabbed [Santa’s] heart” (Lines 11-12) and is “squeezing” (Line 13). Santa then “drops on his jelly belly / in the snow” (Line 16-17). The actions speed up from there as “Mrs. Claus / tears out of the toy factory / wailing” (Lines 17-19), and the “elves wring / their little hands” (Lines 19-20) while “Rudolph’s / nose blinks” (Lines 20-21). This flurry of movement helps to solidify Santa’s death as a real event and contrasts with the softer, less frenetic imagery of motion in the final two stanzas, where the mother “sits with [the speaker] / […] / and takes [his] hand” (Lines 26-28). The stillness here, after tumult, helps to show the mother’s kindness and understanding in the face of trauma.
Consonance
Consonance occurs when a consonant sound is repeated multiple times within a sequence of words. As a musician, Charles Harper Webb combines this device with shifts in rhythm throughout “The Death of Santa Claus” to demonstrate the speeding up and slowing down of time. The beginning stanzas contain methodical excuse-making (“blood tests make him faint, / hospital gowns always flap [Lines 5-6]) while Santa’s heart attack speeds quickly to disaster with a series of verbs that heighten the action.
The grief of the child, on the other hand, and the mom’s understanding regarding the transitory nature of time slow the ending and are enhanced by repeating “k” and “t” sounds. Moments of grief can appear to last for a long time, and these sounds create a sort of ticking that echoes a clock. The “t” sound prominently appears in the following description:
[I]n a tract house
in Houston, Texas, I’m [eight],
telling my mom that stupid
kids at school say Santa’s a big
fake (Lines 22-26).
It is joined by the cracking of the hard “k” sound in “tract” (Line 22), “Texas” (Line 23), “school” (Line 25) and “fake” (Line 26). This hard “k” is also seen in “couch” (Line 28) and “takes” (Line 28), and it is joined by more “t” usage when the mother “takes [the speaker’s] hand, tears / in her throat, the terrible / news rising in her eyes” (Lines 28-30). All of this creates a sense that the next moments will bring the new information that Santa is a myth, changing the speaker’s perception forever.
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