Is ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ biblical?

The work we know by that name was written by the Victorian poet Christina Rosetti as a Nativity poem rather than a song, and titled (or perhaps untitled) ‘A Christmas Carol’ when it was first published in a literary magazine in 1871. It’s become a very popular carol thanks to having been set to music 30 or 40 years later (by Harold Darke for choirs and Gustav Holst for congregations).

The power of the words, spoken or sung, gave them a place in a major BBC drama series recently. Peaky Blinders used the title as an ominous catchphrase, later revealed to have a solemn backstory.

And that power is in the poetry. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is a lot less interested in the scene and storyline of the Nativity than other carols, although it does use some of the features in later verses. It also feels less ‘churchy’ than, for example, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’, which is packed with theological language.

What we have instead is a conceptual fascination with God’s salvation plan. The poem is all about the utterly unexpected way that the creator of the universe is launching his Kingdom and the way this enables us to respond, even if we haven’t responded before.

Verse one: hardened hearts

The first verse describes the world’s rejection of God, a constant theme in the Old Testament (from Genesis to Malachi) that we find intensified in the Gospels. John tells us: ‘He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him’ (John 1.10, ESV).

The fact that Christmas is celebrated in December (and the location of this country in the Northern Hemisphere) allows the poem to use winter weather to represent the world’s coldness towards God. The biblical image of the hardened heart (Hebrews 3.15) is portrayed as frozen ground: ‘Earth stood hard as iron’. That might make you think of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13.1–23), where seed falls on rocky ground and what little manages to grow ends up being burned by the sun.

Verse two: the Kingdom of God

And into the bleak midwinter of our hearts comes the Messiah. In verse two we’ve come to the Nativity (‘a stable place sufficed’) but only in the second half of the verse. Before we come to the manger we skip to the end of the story. In the book of Revelation, when Jesus reigns and has presided over the final judgement, heaven and earth are renewed (Revelation 21.1). In the words of this poem they ‘flee away when he comes to reign’.

Verse three: the humble Lord

In verse three we’re clearly in the Nativity scene, with Mary and the angels, but the cosmic contrast is still there. We’re astounded that God has come so close to us, and the contradiction recalls the passage (thought to have originally been a hymn) in Philippians 2.6–11.

Verse four: greater than the angels

And this continues into verse four when the angels have arrived to worship the newborn king. We often reflect on the privilege of the shepherds, being addressed by angels and witnessing their heavenly worship (Luke 2.8–14), but this poem tells us Mary’s experience was greater.

There’s perhaps a possibility of some confusion in the old language used, because when the poem says that ‘angels and archangels may have gathered there,’ Christina Rosetti isn’t expressing uncertainty over whether it actually happened. She’s magnifying the incarnation and what it means for us by putting the angels aside. Whether they did or they didn’t (and she knows they did), there’s something more profound happening at the manger.

This is exactly what the Bible does, most especially in Hebrews 1, where Jesus is described as the purest revelation of God, so much greater than those dazzling angels. This pure revelation makes direct interaction with God possible – it means God is meeting us where we are – the poem illustrates this as Mary worships Jesus with a kiss.

Verse five: the gospel

But Mary isn’t being elevated to angel status. The final verse enables us to say that her interaction with Jesus is ours too. The New Testament has taught us that although none of us will ever be, as Mary was, physically pregnant with God incarnate, as Christians we have Christ in us (Colossians 1.27). God has put the saving work of Christ in our weak bodies (2 Corinthians 4.10). Only Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, yet Jesus said, ‘Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’ (Matthew 12.50, ESV).

As beautiful and as clever as those three middle verses are, the power of the carol is in the first and last verses. What we remember best is the winter of the opening and the Christmas of the ending. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ begins with tears of pain and ends with tears of joy. This is a carol that brings us into the story. It forgets names and places and just uses the essence of the events to challenge you and me to meet God at Christmas.

Discover Bible Society's Christmas cards and stickers, which are both new for 2024 and based on ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’.

See all the Christmas resources