Christmas Poems by Christina Rossetti

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas hath a darkness

     Brighter than the blazing noon,

Christmas hath a chillness

     Warmer than the heat of June,

Christmas hath a beauty

     Lovelier than the world can show:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

     Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,

     Birds that sing and bells that ring;

Heaven hath answering music

     For all Angels soon to sing:

Earth, put on your whitest

     Bridal robe of spotless snow:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

     Brought for us so low.

~Christina Rossetti~

1893

A Christmas Carol

(Set to music as "In the Bleak Mid-winter)

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.

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.

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.

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 can I give Him,

     Give my heart.

~Christina Rossetti~

BIO:  Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) came from a family of talented poets, writers, and painters. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, emigrated to England as a poet and political exile from Vasto, Abruzzo, Italy. Her mother, Frances Polidori, was the sister of the notorious Lord Byron physician, John William Polidori. Her brother was the renowned poet and painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Christina often posed for her brother's paintings and became a popular poetess in her own right. In popularity, she became the successor of Elizabeth Barrett Browning after the famous poetess died in 1861. Christina published her first collection of poems in 1862, Goblin Market and Other Poems, which remains popular even today. Two of her poems were set to music: A Christmas Carol and Love Came Down at Christmas. She is buried in London's Highgate Cemetery.

Poetry in the Time of Plague

Doctor Wearing a Plague Mask

A Litany in Time of Plague

Adieu, farewell earth's bliss!

This world uncertain is:

Fond are life's lustful joys,

Death proves them all but toys.

None from his darts can fly;

I am sick, I must die --

Lord, have mercy on us!

Rich men, trust not in wealth,

Gold cannot buy you health;

Physic himself must fade;

All things to end are made;

The plague full swift goes by;

I am sick, I must die --

Lord, have mercy on us!

Thomas Nash (1567-1601)

The Triumph of Death (excerpt)

London now smokes with vapours that arise

From his foul sweat, himself he so bestirs:

'Cast out your dead!' the carcass-carrier cries,

Which by heaps in groundless graves inters.

Now like to bees in summer's heat from hives,

Out fly the citizens, some here, some there;

Some all alone, and others with their wives:

With wives and children some fly, all for fear!

Here stands a watch, with guard of partisans,

To stop their passages, or to and fro,

As if they were not men, nor Christians,

But fiends or monsters, murdering as they go . . .

John Davies, (1569-1626)

The Plague

' Listen, the last stroke of death's noon has struck --

The plague is come,' a gnashing Madman said,

And laid him down straightway upon his bed.

His writhed hands did at the linen pluck;

Then all is over. With a careless chuck

Among his fellows he is cast. How sped

His spirit matters little: many dead

Make men hard-hearted. -- 'Place him on the truck.

Go forth into the burial ground and find

Room at so much a pitiful for so many.

One thing is to be done; one thing is clear:

Keep thou back from the hot unwholesome wind,

That it infect not thee.' Say, is there any

Who mourneth for the multitude dead here?

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Biographies:

Thomas Nash was an Elizabethan playwright and poet. In 1594, he wrote The Terrors of the Night; Or a Discourse of Apparitions in which he discounts belief in the supernatural as superstition. His literary friends included Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.

John Davies was an English poet who lived in London during the plague. He became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, who encouraged his legal career. As a lawyer and politician, he served in the House of Commons. Later, he became Attorney General for Ireland.

Christina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote romantic, religious, and children's poems. She suffered greatly from depression and poor health. She was highly praised by Hopkins, Swinburne, and Tennyson for her work. Politically, she opposed slavery, cruelty to animals, and under-age prostitution. After her death from cancer, she was buried in Highgate Cemetery.