Lyric Poem · Winter
In the Bleak Midwinter
by Christina Rossetti · 1872
11. In the bleak mid-winter
2Frosty wind made moan,
3Earth stood hard as iron,
4Water like a stone;
5Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
6Snow on snow,
7In the bleak mid-winter
8Long ago.
92. Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
10Nor earth sustain;
11Heaven and earth shall flee away
12When He comes to reign:
13In the bleak mid-winter
14A stable-place sufficed
15The Lord God Almighty,
16Jesus Christ.
173. Enough for Him, whom cherubim
18Worship night and day,
19A breastful of milk
20And a mangerful of hay;
21Enough for Him, whom angels
22Fall down before,
23The ox and ass and camel
24Which adore.
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“In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti — quilloak.com/poems/in-the-bleak-midwinter
Quick facts
- Poem
- In the Bleak Midwinter
- Poet
- Christina Rossetti
- Published
- 1872
- Length
- 40 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Winter, Peace
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 40 lines · 5 octaves
- Refrain
- “In the bleak mid-winter”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Christina Rossetti1830–1894
- Source record
- WikisourceIn the Bleak Midwinter by christina-rossetti, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1872
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 37bdb5608cf761b3…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.