Beginning to preach on Christmas themes today I was trying to describe how bleak things were in Israel just before Christ came. As I was trying to conjure it up, the hymn by Christian Rossetti (1830-1894), sister of the Pre-Raphaelite Rossetti brothers, came to mind. It begins
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 time ago.
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 time ago.
I like the hymn I must confess (I have a favourite version by Bert Jansch) but disliked the emphasis on the weather. Who knows whether it was snowing anyway? On reflection, I guess that Rossetti's point is not meteorological but metaphorical. She is using the ice and snow to picture the hardness and sin that characterised those times in Israel.
It is the same in C S Lewis's first Narnia story where the faun Mr Tumnus speaks to Lucy about the evil witch and famously says 'It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!'
(Rossetti's poem was written before 1872 and published posthumously in her Poetic Works (1904). It appeared in The English Hymnal 1906. She apparently wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner’s Monthly for a Christmas poem.
Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the series and the first to be published. It appeared in 1950. The quote is from Chapter 2).
(Rossetti's poem was written before 1872 and published posthumously in her Poetic Works (1904). It appeared in The English Hymnal 1906. She apparently wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner’s Monthly for a Christmas poem.
Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the series and the first to be published. It appeared in 1950. The quote is from Chapter 2).
4 comments:
That has always been my favorite book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and I loved the movie too. It was almost like they read my mind because the film pictured just what I was imagining as a child when I'd read the book. Great movie!
A Narnia fan! You may like my boys re-interpretations at my first link. (You may not!). Some complained the film wasn't true enough to the book. Not you! It would be interesting to find out if Rossetti's poem inspired Lewis.
Do you happen to know if there is actual evidence that C.S. Lewis was indeed inspired by this poem of Christina Rossetti?
I discovered another link myself between the two: in Rossetti's Goblin Market a girl eats a piece of fruit that the goblins offer and afterwards she instantly craves more, just like Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: after he ate the White Witch's Turkish Delight he only wanted more.
I'm an English student, you see, and I ended up here by googling "C.S. Lewis + Christina Rossetti", in search of more information for an essay on Rossetti. So if you could maybe help me out or point me in the right direction, I'd be forever grateful.
Best wishes,
Liesbeth
Liesbeth
Sorry I missed your post. I am an English graduate myself. What you say is very interesting. I ma not able to help you further though. I tried your link but couldn't get to you. Sorry.
G
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