nourishing obscurity

When I was a kid, I didn’t like this hymn/carol/poem but then again, I also didn’t like brussel sprouts and salad. Wiki says:

In 2008 Harold Darke‘s setting was named the best Christmas carol in a poll of some of the world’s leading choirmasters and choral experts.

The version above is instrumental and so the words are reprinted below for you to follow.  The version further on in the post has the singing.

I can’t bear to watch the video above.  That part where the snow-laden path beckons and the trees are weighed down with snow takes me straight back to Russia and walking in the winter sun with my girl, snow crunching underneath boots and powder falling through the air as we brushed agaisnt branches.  This is tough to remember.

In verse one, Rossetti describes the physical characteristics of the Incarnation.

In the bleak midwinter

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.

In verse two, Rossetti contrasts Christ’s first and second coming.

Our God, heaven cannot 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 incarnate,

Jesus Christ.

The third verse dwells on Christ’s birth and describes the simple surroundings, in a humble stable and watched by beasts of burden.

Enough for him, whom Cherubim

Worship night and day

A breast full of milk

And a manger full of hay.

Enough for him, whom angels

Fall down before,

The ox and ass and camel

which adore.

Rossetti achieves another contrast in the fourth verse, this time between the incorporeal angels attendant at Christ’s birth with Mary’s ability to render Jesus physical affection. This verse is omitted in the Harold Darke setting.

Angels and archangels

May have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim

Thronged the air;

But his mother only,

In her maiden bliss,

Worshipped the Beloved

With a kiss.

The final verse may be the most well known and loved. Here, Darke repeats the last line in his setting.

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.

This Dame Kiri version is also lovely:

The text of this Christmas poem has been set to music many times, the most famous settings being composed by Gustav Holst and Harold Edwin Darke in the early 20th century.

It’s a superb poem/hymn/carol – earth stood hard as iron.  Rosetti was something else, don’t you think?  As I age, I’m coming to appreciate these sorts of things more and more.  And you?

Wiki again:

In the early 20th century Rossetti’s popularity faded as many respected Victorian writers’ reputations suffered from Modernism‘s backlash. Rossetti remained largely unnoticed and unread until the 1970s when feminist scholars began to recover and comment on her work.

Oh no, here we go:

She was ambivalent about women’s suffrage, but many scholars have identified feminist themes in her poetry.

Yeah, they would, wouldn’t they?  Why do the feminists always have to go and do these things?

Rossetti stands as a human being, not as a feminist.  Her life and work is so much more than narrow sectarian interests like that and anyone can appreciate her and what she was about.  Why can’t I be allowed to appreciate a woman without things getting politicized?

I hope you liked the above versions of In The Bleak Midwinter.

Filed under: Society & human issues