Rossetti was born in London and educated at home by her mother. She had two brothers and a sister - Dante Gabriel Rossetti would be become an influential artist and poet, William Michael Rossetti, and Maria Francesca Rossetti would both become successful writers. Their father, Gabriele Rossetti, was an Italian poet and a refugee from Naples; their mother, Frances Polidori, was the sister of Lord Byron's friend and physician, John William Polidori, author of The Vampyre.
In the 1840s, her family faced severe financial difficulties due to the deterioration of her father's physical and mental health. When she was 14, Rossetti suffered a nervous breakdown and left school. Bouts of depression and related illness followed. During this period she, her mother, and her sister became deeply interested in the Anglo-Catholic movement that developed in the Church of England; religious devotion came to play a major role in Rossetti's life. In her late teens, Rossetti became engaged to the painter James Collinson, who was, like her brothers Dante and William, one of the founding members of the avant-garde artistic group, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The engagement was broken when he reverted to Catholicism. Later she became involved with the linguist Charles Cayley, but declined to marry him, also for religious reasons. Rossetti sat for several of Dante Rossetti's most famous paintings. In 1848, she was the model for the Virgin Mary in his first completed oil painting, The Girlhood of Mary Virgin, which was the first work to be inscribed with the initials 'PRB', later revealed to signify the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The following year she modelled again for his depiction of the Annunciation, Ecce Ancilla Domini.
Rossetti began writing at age 7 and published her first poem appeared in the Athenaeum when she was 18. She contributed to the literary magazine The Germ, published by the Pre-Raphaelites from January - April 1850 and edited by her brother William. Her most famous collection, Goblin Market and Other Poems, appeared in 1862, when she was 31. The title poem from this book is one of Rossetti's best known works. Although the poem is ostensibly about two sisters' misadventures with goblins, critics [citation needed] have interpreted the piece in a variety of ways: seeing it as an allegory about temptation and salvation; a commentary on Victorian gender roles and female agency; and a work about erotic desire and social redemption. She was a volunteer worker from 1859 to 1870 at the St. Mary Magdalene "house of charity" in Highgate, a refuge for former prostitutes and it is suggested Goblin Market may have been inspired the "fallen women" she came to know. There are parallels with Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner given both poems' religious themes of temptation, sin and redemption by vicarious suffering. [citation needed] Rossetti's collection received critical praise on publication and, according to biographer Jan Marsh, the death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's in 1861 "led to Rossetti being hailed as her natural successor as 'female laureate'." She was ambivalent about women's suffrage, but many scholars have identified feminist themes in her poetry. [citation needed] Marsh notes, "she was opposed to war, slavery (in the American South), cruelty to animals (in the prevalent practice of animal experimentation), the exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution and all forms of military aggression."
Rossetti maintained a very large circle of friends and correspondents and continued to write and publish for the rest of her life, primarily focusing on devotional writing and children's poetry. In 1892, Rossetti wrote The Face of the Deep, a book of devotional prose, and oversaw the production of a new and enlarged edition of Sing-Song, published in 1893.
In the later decades of her life, Rossetti suffered from Graves Disease, suffering a nearly fatal attack in the early 1870s. In 1893, she developed breast cancer and though the tumour was removed, she suffered a recurrence in September 1894. She died the following year on 29 December 1894 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. Her christmas poem "In the Bleak Midwinter" became widely known after her death when set as a much loved Christmas carol first by Gustav Holst, and then by Harold Darke. Her poem "Love Came Down at Christmas" (1885) has also been widely arranged as a carol. In the early 20th century Rossetti's popularity faded in the wake of Modernism. In the 1970s scholars began to rediscover and critique her work again, and it regained admittance to the Victorian literary canon.
Rossetti is honoured with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on April 27.
In the Bleak Midwinter
Christina Rossetti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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 midwinter,
Long ago.
Our God, heaven can not hold Him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But His mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshiped 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 I can I give Him -
Give my heart.
The first stanza of Christina Rossetti’s song In the Bleak Midwinter paints a picture of a cold, harsh winter landscape. The imagery of the earth hardened like iron and water turned to stone suggests the desolation of the environment. The repetition of “snow on snow” conveys the severity of the weather, and the final phrase “long ago” adds a nostalgic tone, as if contrasting the cold present with a warmer past. The second stanza shifts from the natural world to the realm of heaven, describing how God is too immense for either heaven or earth to contain. The idea that “heaven and earth shall flee away/When He comes to reign” evokes a sense of impending doom, as if God’s arrival will be so powerful that it will upend everything. Despite this grand spectacle, the third stanza zooms in on a quiet moment at a stable, where Jesus has been born. The presence of angels is suggested, but the only person actually mentioned is Mary, who “worshiped the Beloved/With a kiss.” The final stanza brings the focus back to the present, with the singer wondering what they can give to Christ. The rhetorical question “what can I give Him” implies that the singer is powerless to offer anything of value, but then the final clause “give my heart” turns the focus back to the most valuable gift of all.
Line by Line Meaning
In the bleak midwinter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone;
During winter, when everything seems lifeless, with the frosty wind, earth hardened like iron, and water froze like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.
Layers of snow had accumulated, and the landscape was covered completely in winter that happened a long time ago.
Our God, heaven can not hold Him, Nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away When He comes to reign;
Our God is beyond the confines of heaven and earth; even the heavens will disappear when He comes to rule the world.
In the bleak midwinter A stable place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Amidst the dark winter, where everything seems bleak, a humble stable provided the birthplace for our Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels May have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim Thronged the air;
It is possible that angels and heavenly beings gathered around that humble manger, and the air trembled with the appearance of the cherubim and seraphim.
But His mother only, In her maiden bliss, Worshiped the Beloved With a kiss.
Only the blessed mother, full of grace, was privileged to worship the beloved son of God, Jesus Christ, 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 I can I give Him - Give my heart.
Even though I am poor and insignificant, if I were a shepherd, I would offer a lamb or a wise man, I would have done my part. But what I can genuinely give Him is my heart, filled with love, devotion, and praise.
Contributed by Taylor Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
julie Watson
Such a beautiful reading. You have such a lovely delivery style. This is one of my favourite hymns so nice to hear it as originally intended. Thank you!!!!
Kape
Everyone: Such a nice poem <3
Me: BY THE ORDER OF THE P.EAK....
Cameron Smith
Makes me cry man for some reason I can’t stop thinking of the men that actually fought. Ok guawking over fiction and can’t wrap my head around reality
Kamila 6005
THIS SONG IS UNDER A NEW MANAGEMENT!
Rosie Jack
One of the great poem of winter. Beautifully performed. Thank you. 👏
Leigh Barwick
what a beautiful poem and you read it so well, your voice is hypnotic xxx
jericho hill
Very well spoken.
Joshua H
This comment brought to you by order of the Peaky Blinders.
Arthur L Wood
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
Florian Diaz Pesantes
“Snow on Snow, snow on snow” I miss that