Born: December 5, 1830, St. Pancras, London, England.
Died: Dec 29, 1894, St. Giles, London, England.
Buried: Highgate Cemetery, London, England. James Burns, John Calkin, Jeanette Threlfall and William Monk lie nearby.
Rossetti came from a well known literary and artistic family. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, in political exile in England, was a professor of Italian at King’s College in London. Her brothers Dante Gabriel and William Michael were among the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which gave birth to the 19th Century English art movement of the same name. The Pre-Raphaelites, for whom Christina was a frequent model, also included Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown, John Everett Millais, William Morris, John Ruskin and James McNeill Whistler. Her family friends included Charles Dodgson (better known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll), author of Alice in Wonderland.
Rossetti published three books of poetry (mostly religious), and four books of devotions.
Hymns
In the Bleak Midwinter
Words: Christina Rossetti, 1872; she wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner’s Monthly for a Christmas poem.
Music: Cranham, Gustav T. Holst, 1906 (MIDI, score).
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.
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 Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
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.
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.
Love Came Down at Christmas
Words: Christina Rossetti, Time Flies: a Reading Diary, 1885.
Music: Garton, traditional Irish melody (MIDI, score).
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
None Other Lamb
Words: Christina Rossetti, The Face of the Deep, 1892.
Music: Rossetti, William Jeater, 1907 (MIDI, score). Alternate tune:
All Hallows (Wiseman), Frederick L. Wiseman (1858-?) (MIDI, score)
If you have access to a photo of William Jeater that we could put online, please click here.
None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other hope in Heav’n or earth or sea,
None other hiding place from guilt and shame,
None beside Thee!
My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart’s desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to Thee.
Lord, Thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love’s fire Thou art, however cold I be:
Nor Heav’n have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but Thee.
