Christina Rossetti wrote a poem many years ago that she called “A Christmas Carol.”
Many know it from the first line: “In the bleak mid-winter.”
It told the story of Jesus’ birth from the point of view of a British woman writing in mid-19th century Britain.
But what is it about?
A Christmas Carol
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
In the first verse, Rosetti described the season when Jesus was theoretically born in Bethlehem.
But, it’s also a poetic description of the status of many people’s hearts who aren’t thinking about God.
It’s often physical or spiritual challenges that first send many people to consider who Jesus is.
Their hearts, like snow covered ice, many be hard; their situations bleak.
In my case, that was long ago. But I remember how cold and lonely the world could feel.
Rossetti on Jesus’ Coming–First and Second Times!
Like many orthodox hymn writers, Rossetti didn’t merely write of Jesus’ first coming. She looked forward to His second–and that’s reflected in the next two stanzas:
(Wikimedia Commons)
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty —
Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom Angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
How could heaven not hold God?
He loved them (us) so much, He wanted to come to earth to save His people.
That’s why Jesus came.
As King Solomon prayed at the dedication of the temple:
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
ESV
Imagine! The Creator of the Universe made himself small enough to live in a baby, while at the same time His resurrection from the dead created havoc that day in Jerusalem 33 years later.
Rejoicing in the heavens and earth
While God incarnate lay in a manger of straw surrounded by animals at the end of the second stanza, things changed by the third.
Yet also retained intimacy.
Angels and Archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But only His Mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
The heavens outside roared with angelic joy–so many they filled the air.
But in the quiet of the manger, his mother recognized Him and kissed the baby cheek.
Turning the poem back to Rossetti
What did Christina Rossetti–or any of us–have to bring such a Savior?
That’s her question in the final stanza:
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, —
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.
The only thing any of us can give God: our heart.
Who was Christina Rossetti?
Long before I heard “A Christmas Carol” sung, I knew Christina Rossetti through English Literature.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Born into an artistic family in 1830, Christina’s education came from her parents with a focus on the Bible, classics, novels, and even fairy tales. Her father Gabriele Rossetti was an Italian poet and political exile living in London.
The sister of artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, she was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood–a group of artists in London mid-nineteenth-century.
Christina, the youngest in a family of four, was the writer in the group. Her brother illustrated some of her work. He also used her as a handy model for his paintings.
Writer Elizabeth Ludlow recognized the influence of Rossetti’s religious education in her work, citing references to Thomas a Kempis, John Bunyan, George Herbert, and John Donne.
Ludlow also noted in Christina Rossetti and the Bible, that Christina “encouraged her Victorian readers to respond to its [the Bible’s] radical message of grace.”
Christina wrote poetry, devotions, and works for children before dying in 1894.
What about the music?
Two noted composers wrote the music for Rossetti’s “A Christmas Carol” poem.
Gustav Holst’s version is perhaps the most well known, first set to music and published in 1906.
Harold E. Darke wrote an anthem with the same lyrics in 1911.
I like Holst’s version better. That’s what Corrinne May is singing in the video.
Regardless, the soul of many that winter may have been cold–and bleak–but the Savior of the world entered with Good News!
Merry Christmas.
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Beautiul, informative post, and I never knew Holst wrote the arrangement1
I just couldn’t resist, and ask forgivenes in advance.
In the bleak midwinter
(well, ‘bleak’ may be a reach),
I did find faith’s center
while drinking on a beach.
In far-off Jamaica
I I beheld the Face
of my Lord and Saviour,
and I felt the Grace
of the love I knew did come
from His sweet sad eyes;
no, dude it was not the rum,
nor the tropic skies.
True, it was, as true can be,
the love that flowed on down
from most Holy God to me
outside Kingston Town.
Lime Cay’s where I found the strength
to put off bad old ways
and learned to measure my life-length
in hope, and not in days.
Thus, what off’ring can I bring,
how can I play my part?
Hey, now, I know just the thing,
my mended rum-soaked heart.
Hey, it worked for you, Andrew! Merry Christmas.
And a joyous Yule to you and yours, my friend!
Thanks, I really enjoyed that! Merry Christmas!
Same to you, Ken. Such an interesting Christmas carol, isn’t it?
Yes. I saved the carol and your post. I might try to use in the the December 2021 Revivalist.