A christmas carol

Summary:

In "In the Bleak Midwinter," Rossetti begins her poetic retelling of the Nativity story by describing attributes of the winter season, which is when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In this scene, there are traditional elements of the traditional Nativity story found in gospels of the New Testament, including the stable where Jesus was born, his mother, the Virgin Mary, and the angels and animals who worshipped the baby. Rossetti concludes by imagining herself in the position of a Shepherd and Wise Man, and declares that her heart is the one gift she can offer Jesus.

Analysis:

Rossetti opens "In the Bleak Midwinter" with a simple yet powerful description of winter. Her personification of the moaning wind gives the first line a child-like tone. Rossetti pairs up natural elements for straightforward similes: "Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone." The simple couplet rhyme scheme, which continues throughout the poem, gives the reader a sense that Rossetti is telling a familiar and much beloved tale. The phrase "Long ago" adds to the nursery-tale tone.

Rossetti does not introduce Christ and his human incarnation until after the first stanza. When she finally does, it clearly becomes the focal point of the poem. The second stanza encompasses the core of Christian theology: Christ must be born on earth, live and die as a human, and then be resurrected and return at the end of the Earth. In the midst of this complex theology, Rossetti includes the repetition of her opening line, "In the bleak midwinter," as if to bring comfort to such mysterious and detached theological doctrine.

The third stanza shows Jesus as content with the lowly circumstances of his birth. Rossetti's word choice is appropriately humble, as she repeats the pattern, "Enough for Him, whom..." in the first and third lines of this stanza.

In the fourth verse, Rossetti contrasts the magnificent divine with the humble circumstances of Jesus' nativity. She borrows the biblical phrases "Angels and archangels" and "cherubim and seraphim," allowing the internal rhyme sounds to enhance the poem's melodic meter. She emphasizes the importance of Christ's humanity through the image of Christ's mother kissing her baby. In this verse, Rossetti also celebrates the unique value of human love.

In the fifth and final stanza, the poet places herself in the poem by wondering what gift she would offer the baby Jesus if given the chance. Her repetition of "If I were" and "what can I give Him" in this stanza add to the child-like earnestness of the poem. In general, Rossetti limits her poetic devices to the song-like aa bb couplet rhyme scheme. However, her restraint speaks volumes about her attitude towards divine mysteries that require a child's innocent and sincere faith. The final enjambment in the last line suggests the poet's decisiveness in her desire to give her heart to Jesus.

Title
‘A Christmas Carol’
The title is worth considering here because it gives us some clue as to the content and the tone of this poem, as well providing an indication of its author’s aspirations. Rossetti did not provide the music, but she did provide a fairly large hint about her ambitions for this poem, inviting readers (and perhaps composers) to view this as a potential song. Carols are popular hymns, stressing accessibility and enjoyment, and can thus safely incorporate religious folk traditions, including events not necessarily depicted in the bible. Can you spot any of these in Rossetti’s poem?

Tone
Though carols are generally supposed to be joyous, this one sounds a typically Rossettian sombre note. This midwinter is particularly ‘bleak’, an impression reinforced by the frequent masculine rhymes tolling soberly throughout (‘moan’ / ‘stone’;  ‘snow’ / ‘ago’; ‘day’ / ‘hay’; ‘there’ / ‘air’; ‘bliss’ / ‘kiss’; ‘am /’ lamb’; ‘part / heart’). The poet’s use of assonance allows us to hear the wind moaning throughout the first stanza(the ‘o’ sound in ‘moan’/ ‘stone’; ‘snow’ / ‘ago’).

The repetition of the word ‘snow’ as well as the phrase ‘snow on snow’, accumulates, enacting the gradual buildup of snowflakes that takes over the line, nearly obscuring all other words (stanza 1). The tone shifts in stanza 5 from bleak to anxious as as the speaker wonders, ‘What can I give Him?’ The speaker is excluded from this biblical scene not only by time (these events happened ‘long ago’), but by her humble status. She is so ‘poor’ that she is beneath even a ‘shepherd’, let alone a ‘Wise Man’. 

Speaker
It is only in the second stanza that we realize there is a speaker here, about whom we are told very little. Why then, have I assumed the speaker is female? Not (as you might suspect if you didn’t know me better), because a woman wrote this poem, but because this poem is very much about the gifts women specifically have to offer. Shepherds who proffer lambs in this bible story are male, as are of course the ‘Wise Men’, who offer wisdom and riches. However, it is none of these which thaws the frozen landscape. After all, a shepherd’s lamb is only symbolic of Mary’s much greater sacrifice of her son, while all the wisdom and material goods at the disposal of kings will not achieve the salvation of mankind.

The non-humans in this poem, while impressive, still fall short of the mark. Though ‘cherubim’ and ‘angels’ may worship the Christ child, a ‘Breastful of milk’ is ‘Enough for him.’ Poor, a woman and a virgin (see her ‘maiden bliss’), Mary has accomplished the greatest miracle on earth without male assistance, bringing true nourishment and warmth to the baby (and by extension thawing the frozen, formerly hard-as-iron world), with the simple, specifically female gifts of milk and a mother’s kiss. The speaker is quick to notice that these gifts are available from ‘His mother only’. The reference to breast brings to mind the closeness of a suckling child to a mother’s heart, a cue our speaker picks up on in the final stanza.

The speaker realises that the female heart (and by extension, a woman’s love) is a natural as well as a supernatural gift, capable of transcending the material, and here perhaps, time itself. Though the events of Christ’s birth took place ‘long ago’, the speaker can include herself among his worshippers by offering the timeless, priceless gift of her heart. Presumably, this will be ‘Enough for Him’.

The poem’s final line leads us to suspect that speaker and poet may be one and the same: ‘Yet what I can I give Him: give my Heart’. From another Victorian poet, this might come across as mawkish or overly simplistic, but from Rossetti, the offering is as authentic and sincere as the simple language in which it is delivered. This imaginative solution to the speaker’s dilemma can also be read as a celebration of female creativity. This poetic offering continues to appeal because we know Rossetti means it; poetry is Rossetti’s heart, and the most valuable gift she can think to present, both to her God and to her readers.