Page "A Christmas Carol" Paragraph 13

Dickens divides the book into five chapters, which he labels " staves ", that is, song stanzas or verses, in keeping with the title of the book.

He uses a similar device in his next two Christmas books, titling the four divisions of The Chimes, " quarters ", after the quarter-hour tolling of clock chimes, and naming the parts of The Cricket on the Hearth " chirps ".